


Jurassic Stark

by immoral_crow



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Dinosaurs, Gen, Jurassic Park AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-08
Updated: 2013-11-08
Packaged: 2017-12-31 20:51:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 36,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1036245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/immoral_crow/pseuds/immoral_crow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world where DNA has overtaken the atom as the weapon of choice, Tony Stark has decided there is no future for him as a manufacturer of weaponised life-forms. Instead he decides to use biotechnology to amaze and educate the masses. Thus, Jurassic Stark – an amusement park with a difference. Instead of twee rides and tame animals he will wow the public with real-life dinosaurs. What can possibly go wrong?</p><p>Well, Steve Rogers could name one or two things. If the storm that trapped his tour in the middle of the park hadn’t been bad enough, it turns out that you really don’t want to make Dr. Banner angry (unless you like T. Rex that is). Oh yeah, and the Velociraptor keeper, who goes by the unusual name of Loki, seems to be both able to communicate with the raptors and intent on taking over the park. Frankly, Stark is a dick who doesn’t think his plans through.</p><p>Will the team learn to pull together? Can they defeat Loki and his sinister raptor army? How many hours can the author spend researching dinosaur behaviour instead of writing? If you want the answers to all these questions and more – or if you’ve ever wanted Steve to kick a Velociraptor in the head – then this is the fic for you.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've been writing this story off and on for the past 18 months and the list of things I should mention in notes in extensive. 
> 
> Firstly, you should go and [check out the art](http://users.livejournal.com/_afterism/242752.html) by the wonderful Afterism. 
> 
> Secondly, a huge thank you to my erstwhile beta readers, [Mizzy](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Mizzy) and [Wendyloulou](http://archiveofourown.org/users/wendyloulou/). You have them to thank if this story makes any sense at all, and if Tony in particular doesn't sound like an English Lord. Also, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to H and D who were patient and supportive throughout any number of meltdowns. Any remaining mistakes are completely my own. 
> 
> Finally, none of this would have happened if a certain Mr Hiddlestone hadn't gone round doing impressions of Raptors. I don't know if I should thank him or cry about this. I will leave you to decide when you have finished reading.

“What do you mean “The transfer of the Raptor went wrong?” It was fool proof – I designed the mechanism myself. For example, you couldn't even harm it if I pointed out where to hit and how hard. Ergo. Fool proof.”

Tony looked up from his bank of monitors to frown at the nervous looking man in front of him. 

“Yes, sir. But…” The man took a look at Tony’s face and stepped back, swallowing nervously. “Maybe you should look at the footage?” 

Tony swung back to the screens. 

“JARVIS?”

“Yes, sir?” The voice coming from the ceiling seemed to discomfit the man even further, and Tony smiled grimly. He was well aware of the rumours that circulated among the Park’s staff about who (or what) JARVIS was. 

“Run footage from the Raptor move.”

The screen in front of Tony lit up, and he watched, forehead creased in consternation, as the scene unfolded. 

He’d done his best to make the cage and enclosure Raptor-proof; the weak point in the whole process was always going to be the transfer. 

The Raptor seemed to pick up on that, and when the door to the cage was lifted, it pushed hard and managed to create a gap of a few inches between it and the enclosure. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for the Raptor to reach out and hook one of the staff with such speed the man didn’t even have time to fire his gun. 

Tony stopped the footage with the wave of a hand. 

“What happened to him?” he asked.

“He died,” the man said. “Sif ate him.”

“Sif?”

“The Raptor.” The man deliberately avoided eye contact and Tony frowned.

“Stop giving them names,” he said. “I’ve been through this before – they’re not humans, or pets.”

The man shuddered. 

“Trust me,” he said. “I know that.” 

Tony turned back to the screen, unheeding, as the man left the room. It seemed that his information had been right – Raptors were fiercely intelligent and horribly vicious. Of course, the person who had told him that had drawn some highly unflattering comparisons between the Raptors and Tony, but since Tony had been firing him at the time, he had dismissed the words as meaningless vitriol. 

Now, though? Well, maybe the Raptor’s intelligence hadn’t been overstated. 

“JARVIS?” he said, grim lines set on his face. 

“Yes, sir?”

“Call Coulson. I think we’re going to need him.”

“So, where is it we’re going?”

Phil looked up at Steve, mouth quirked up in its customary smile. 

“I told you,” he said. “I had a call from an old friend who wanted my opinion on his latest project.”

“And you brought us because?” Steve waved his hand towards the other people in the helicopter. 

“I have my reasons,” Phil said. 

Steve sat back, forced to be content with this. He had no idea what had prompted Phil to assemble this group, but he trusted the man. Time spent together in the army would do that for you – even if they hadn’t served together for years now. 

Instead Phil had gone on to some never-fully-explained enterprise, and Steve had worked his way up in the army, specialising in combatting bio-engineered threats until his discharge eighteen months ago. 

They’d kept in touch, though. Steve had always been grateful for Phil’s amused and supportive presence as he’d tried to rebuild his life after… well. After. And Phil had never tried to patronise or minimise what had happened. Even if his hero-worship had been uncomfortable for Steve to understand, Phil had been a good friend, and if he asked Steve to do something? Steve would do it. 

He had no idea what motivated the others. A slim, red-headed girl Phil had introduced as Natasha, who looked like she was in her twenties until you actually looked in her eyes, was deep in conversation with a young man who Steve thought might be called Clint. Sat opposite them, with his attention firmly fixed out the window on the ocean passing below, was a tall Nordic looking chap. He’d asked Steve to call him Thor. They’d been chatting for nearly ten minutes as they waited for take-off before Steve had realised he was talking to Donald Blake – one of the foremost experts on applied bio-engineering. 

Seeing Steve’s gaze, Phil smiled. 

“A deplorable excess of personality, that one,” he said in an undertone, and Steve bit back a laugh. “And I suspect his English teacher was a bit too fond of Shakespeare.” 

“I noticed,” he replied. “Smart guy, though. Knows his stuff.” 

“He does,” Phil said. “But I was once trapped in a caravan in New Mexico with him, with a hangover, and it’s not an experience I am keen to repeat.” 

“Hey, Coulson.” Clint’s voice cut across the conversation, and when Steve looked up he saw that both Clint and Natasha were watching Phil with inscrutable gazes. “Who’s the _friend_ we’re going to see?”

There was an edge to Clint’s voice that Steve didn’t like, but Phil seemed unruffled. 

“Tony Stark,” he said, and Steve frowned. 

He knew of Tony Stark by reputation; had been lucky enough to work with his father when Steve had been starting out in the army, back before Howard’s death. He’d never have described them as friends, but Howard had given him the first break that had allowed him to pursue a career in bio-engineering. 

It was a mixed blessing – it was Howard Stark after all – but no-one could deny that any young researcher who Howard took an interest in would be able to forge a career. Howard, at the end of the day, was the man who had almost single-handedly bio-engineered the weapons that had brought World War Two to an end. 

Tony Stark, however? Not the same man as his father. Not even close. 

Steve had seen the press coverage, the Expos, the go-go dancers, (the x-tube videos – but Steve put those, very firmly, out of his mind) and although Tony seemed to have inherited his father’s genius, it was subsumed by his ego and an almost overpowering desire for attention. 

It didn’t seem that Clint was overly impressed by Phil’s answer either. He fixed him with a glare before turning back to Natasha and continuing a conversation in a tone too low for Steve to be able to hear. 

Phil shrugged at Steve and looked out the window. 

“We’re nearly there in any case,” he said, and as Steve and the others looked, they saw the green trees and steep slopes of a small island in the ocean.

The approach to the island was dramatic. The landing area seemed tiny, and the helicopter dropped nearly vertically to reach it. Steve’s stomach was still in his mouth as the doors opened and Natasha climbed out, as unruffled as if she was stepping from a cab in New York.

“Pepper!” Phil brushed past Steve and embraced the perfectly put-together woman who was waiting to greet the chopper. Thor climbed out, his eyes wide as he looked around him. Steve paused, waiting to see if Clint would want to get out first, but Clint was completely focussed on Phil, who was kissing the woman’s (Pepper’s?) cheek. 

Steve climbed out just as Phil pulled away and looked round. 

“Steve? Meet Pepper… I mean, Virginia Potts.”

“Miss Potts.” Steve held out his hand, and she took it with a smile. 

“It’s Pepper, please.” She turned. “Natasha, I’m so glad you’re here, and you must be Dr. Blake?”

“Well met!” Thor said, finally looking away from the plant that had commanded his attention. “This is a most impressive place. There is vegetation here I had never expected to see outside the pages of a book.” 

Pepper smiled, as though this was hugely amusing to her. 

“If you like the plants here,” she said, “just wait until we drive to the research lab.”

The island was impressive, Steve would give it that. Thor was excited to the point of agitation about the plants, something which seemed to alarm Clint and amuse Phil and Pepper no end.

It was not till the Jeep left the trees behind, though, and pulled out into a clearing of rolling fields that Steve noticed, and…

“Guys?” 

He stood up, braced on the Jeep’s roll bar to see better, and felt Clint freeze beside him as he turned to see what caught Steve’s attention. Natasha followed suit, and Steve was sure that Phil and Pepper both knew about this, because their smug amusement was almost palpable. Thor was the only one who hadn’t noticed; he had a leaf in his hands and was holding forth in an excited tone and so Steve did the only thing he could think of – he grabbed Thor’s head, turning him bodily until he was facing the same way as the rest of them. 

It was a herd of Brachiosaurs – or it was unless Steve was having a particularly vivid hallucination. He thought he might be right though; everyone in the Jeep was watching the strangely graceful movements as the creatures grazed, and Steve felt a leap of pride. In his line of work he only tended to see the destructive side of bio-engineering, this was something different. 

“I can’t believe Stark did it,” Phil said, and Steve looked round at him. “I mean, I know he was working on it, but…” Phil gestured and whistled. 

“Dinosaurs? Stark managed to breed _dinosaurs_? And you _knew about this_?” Steve knew he sounded like one of Stark’s fangirls on Tumblr, but frankly he wasn’t sure which part of that sentence needed the most emphasis. 

Phil laughed. “I’ve heard rumours,” he said; beside him Pepper chuckled. “By which I obviously mean that Tony has bragged at great length throughout the process.”

Steve was reluctantly impressed. He’d never have guessed that Stark had the genius (or the staying power) to achieve this. 

“It’s something special,” he said, and he thought, from Phil’s laugh, that Phil at least had heard everything that Steve hadn’t said.

“I know,” Stark said as the Jeep pulled up. “I am a genius. A trailblazer. A visionary. Now, try to withhold your excitement until you’ve seen the full tour.”

He grabbed Pepper by the arm, pulling her off to discuss something in a low tone that involved an impressive amount of arm waving. Steve stepped from the Jeep, his awe evaporating in favour of the more familiar irritation that Stark inspired. Strangely the sensation was comforting. If Stark had been approachable or pleasant in real life, Steve wasn’t sure his worldview could have sustained the shock. 

“Asshole,” Clint muttered as he joined Steve to grab their bags from the back of the Jeep. 

“Yeah,” Steve said, biting back a laugh. “But, hey. Maybe he didn’t take finishing classes at MIT?”

“Maybe he doesn’t need them? I mean, how important are social skills when you friends are robots and test tubes?” 

“I guess I’m a bit surprised though,” Steve said as he hefted his kit back over his shoulder. “Howard was always such a…”

“Oh, do continue.” Stark’s voice cut through their conversation and Steve spun round. Stark was tight lipped and his eyes were flashing with anger. “It’s always educational to find out that my social skills are at fault – especially when it’s discussed behind my back by my guests.” 

Steve blushed. “I’m sorry, Mr Stark. I didn’t…”

“Didn’t know I could hear? Yeah. I got that.” Stark turned on his heel and clapped his hands. “Come on, everyone! Time is money. Stow your bags by the welcome station there, we’ll deal with them later, and let’s go to the labs.”

Tony knew damn well he wasn’t universally popular, he spent enough time online to know exactly what people thought of him, but it fucking stung to hear the hired muscle discussing his lack of people skills.

He tried to tamp down his anger – arguing with goons would achieve nothing – but the quip about his father had cut deeper than he’d care to admit. 

“Coulson.” He beckoned the man forward to walk with him. “Who are these motley lot?”

Phil smirked. “The tall, blond is Dr. Donald Blake, he…”

“Yeah. I know. I’ve read his stuff. Why does he want to be called Thor though?”

“No idea. It’s a nickname or something. I find it best not to ask sometimes.”

“And them?” Tony gestured to where Mr Shoulders McAll-His-Friends-Are-Robots was listening intently to a lady who would either get him slapped with a lawsuit or by Pepper. Possibly both. Pepper might have seen the light about their relationship, but she still had _feelings_ about respectful attitudes to women, and Tony knew better than to push her.

“That’s Natasha Romanov and Clint Barton. Given what you said on the phone, I thought it would be best to bring some weapons.” 

“They don’t look like much,” Tony said, and Phil grinned. 

“We’ll see how you feel once you’ve had a chance to see them in the field,” he said. “But I’ll tell you now – those two are the best hunters you’ll ever see.”

Tony shot him a hard look.

“I hardly think that will be necessary,” he said. “I asked you to come over to check safety measures, not kill my stock.” 

Phil shrugged. “I know how these things can get out of hand, Tony. In any case those two will be happy to go in the paddocks with the animals and track their movements, which will give you a much better idea of where the weak spots are in your defences.” 

“If there are any weak spots,” Tony said, but Phil just assumed his long-suffering look and didn’t reply. “What about tall, blond, and studly over there? He a hunter too? Or did you bring him as bait?”

“That,” Phil said, his cheeks pinking slightly. “Is Captain Steve Rogers. He’s here as a special favour to me.” 

Tony blinked. He’d heard about Rogers of course, who hadn’t? The Army had gone all out in making him a poster-boy for the American ideal. He hadn’t expected him to look quite like _this_ though – he’d suspected the perfection of the face and body that stared from a hundred campaigns were the result of Photoshop rather than nature. Now, faced with Rogers in the flesh, he was forced to reassess that, which meant that…

“Why, Coulson, you devil. You brought a booty call with you. I don’t know whether to be impressed or insulted – all you ever had to do was ask, you know.” He shot Phil his best Look (complete with wicked grin and fluttering eyelashes), but Phil seemed unruffled. 

“I wouldn’t do that,” he said. 

“Why?” Tony pressed his hand to his heart. “Am I not man enough for you? Wait, are you planning to hit me with a sexual-harassment suit? Because, Coulson, baby, you should see the size of my settlement.” 

At which point Tony tripped over and in the ensuing kerfuffle rather forgot about Captain Steve Rogers. 

“I’m telling you, Pepper,” he hissed as he tried to recover his injured dignity by stalking ahead to lead the group. “I was tripped.” 

“Nonsense,” she said. “Who would have tripped you up? And why would they bother doing it now? It normally takes at least half an hour for the Stark charm to provoke violence.” 

Tony looked round surreptitiously. Phil was walking next to Rogers, who looked too gormless to have tripped anybody up – hell, he was probably the kind of man who helped kittens across the road and rescued little old ladies out of trees – but Barton and Romanov looked like trouble, and Barton’s expression was suspiciously close to a smirk.

The lab was… impressive. Steve didn’t know much about this side of genetic engineering – hell, he usually only saw the finished product out on the field of battle – but Stark’s set up was enough to make him sit up and take notice.

Phil just looked quietly amused, like he’d expected this all along, and Clint and Natasha were impassive, taking in the scene before them with identical assessing gazes. 

“So,” Stark said, turning to look at them. “This is where the magic happens. Well, I say _magic_ but it’s all science and genius.” He snorted, an oddly ungraceful sound given his earlier bluster, but maybe his fall had shaken him. “I guess that’s close enough to magic for you lot.”

Steve bristled. He may not be a lab worker, but he was well used to seeing what the scientists came up with. He could remember the teeth and claws of the genetically-enhanced monsters that were released routinely as part of war, and forcibly repressed a shiver. 

“How did you find the DNA for the dinosaurs?” Clint asked, bending down to peer at a screen. 

“Mosquitos,” Stark answered. “Preserved in amber. They fed off the dinosaurs, landed on branches, and were trapped in the sap. It was just a matter of finding them and extracting the DNA.” 

“Sounds imprecise,” Clint said. “How did you know what DNA you had found?” 

“We could guess to some degree, once we’d started, but a lot of it has been trial and error.”

Steve looked up as a dark-haired man joined them. Wearing wire-rimmed glasses and a lab coat, he looked every inch the stereotypical researcher, even down to his tousled hair. Stark poked him in the side and grinned. 

“As Dr. Banner said, we started out using what we found, but as we’ve progressed we’ve been able to more accurately predict the DNA we find, and adjust our research accordingly.” 

Dr. Banner nodded. “I’ve been in charge of sequencing the genes, identifying the DNA we extract, and,” he paused for a second, “filling in the blanks in order to make the DNA viable to use in eggs. It’s this work,” he gestured “that has allowed us to produce the animals you’ve seen, and will see on your visit here.” 

“Isn’t this dangerous?” Steve asked. “Gene manipulation is far from an exact science yet, and I’ve seen more than enough of what its results can be.”

“There have been one or two unexpected developments, yes,” Dr. Banner said, “but we seem to have those under control now.” 

Steve wasn’t quite sure he trusted this; Dr. Banner’s fingers were tightening convulsively on the bench in front of him, but he didn’t know the man well enough to call him out, so he smiled tightly and followed Stark as he led them on. 

“Let’s go to the hatchery. You can see their innocent, reptilian eyes as they emerge from the egg.” He nudged Phil in the ribs. “You’ll feel right at home. It’s like being at the first day of law school.”

Okay. They hadn’t gotten off to the best of starts, but Tony was satisfied that the tour was going well now. Bruce knew his stuff, and provided no-one found out anything about the _incident_ , well, everything would be dandy.

They all looked suitably awed at least as they went into the warmth of the hatchery. There was a batch that were due to hatch at any minute, and Tony let the others wander round while he went to check on them. 

“The eggs here,” Dr. Blake (Thor, Tony corrected himself) said. “Do they supplement the wild breeding programme?” 

“There is no wild breeding,” Tony said. “The risks are too high, and I wanted to keep control.” 

“How do you manage that?” Barton asked. “Sex-ed classes? Awkward formals? Braces on the teeth of the teenaged dinosaurs?” 

Tony grinned. “All good ideas, but nothing so crude. No, we decided to make all the dinosaurs female, ergo, no breeding. We create the eggs, then leave them with an adult female to raise. Allows us control, but will give the illusion of a natural environment, and allow herds to form naturally.” 

“What sort of dinosaurs have you bred?” Romanov asked, looking round the eggs nestled under the warmth lamps. 

“Oh, most of them,” Tony said breezily. “The important ones anyway. Now, if you look at this batch here, I want you to see…”

“You only bred herbivores though,” Barton said, standing on his tiptoes to look at the eggs moving slightly behind Tony. 

“Well,” Tony said. “Not as such.”

“You bred carnivores?” Phil said, his voice incredulous as he fished in the pocket of his jacket for his phone. “You crazy son of a bitch. Of course you did.” 

He dialled a number and held the phone to his ear. 

“What are you doing?” Tony said. 

“Reporting to Fury, of course.” 

“Oh come on.” Tony pulled the phone away and cancelled the call. “At least see the rest of the island before you tell your lord and master.” 

“Indeed, Coulson,” Thor said. “We are here now, and we should at least look.”

Phil hesitated. “I’ll have to tell him eventually,” he said. “But since we are here…” He turned back to the table where a small, beak-like muzzle was poking through the eggshell and so missed the look of smug triumph on Tony’s face. Steve didn’t miss it though.

The last thing Tony wanted at this point was Nick Fury’s involvement, but with Phil’s phone pocketed and the Jeeps pulling round to start the tour, he was confident he could get through this and change Phil’s mind about the safety of the Park.

This would be an entertainment venue, so help him god. Yeah, his father had founded Stark Industries to provide genetically engineered “products” for the army, but Tony wanted no part of that. Not any more. Not since Afghanistan. He rubbed his chest absently and looked at the display screen in front of him. 

The weather display wasn’t promising, and he frowned. It wouldn’t make much difference to the tour, but the animals were less likely to be active in bad weather. 

He turned round to where the group were waiting. Phil, Romanov, and Barton were talking together in low voices, and Thor was making polite conversation with Rogers. 

“There’s a storm coming,” he said. “It’s not liable to hit for a couple of hours, but you might want to hold off on the tour until the morning.”

Thor laughed. “It would take more than a little thunder to deter me!”

“What about the rest of you?” Tony asked. “Willing to get a little wet in exchange for seeing what we can do here.” 

Phil shrugged. “Why not?” he said. “We’ve been through worse.” 

“Excellent,” Tony said. “I’m going to stay here, but Dr. Banner will… Bruce? Bruce!”

Dr. Banner appeared from the lab, blinking at Tony. 

“You screamed?” 

“I did. Will you go on the tour with these guys? Talk them through the animals?”

“Sure.” Bruce shrugged, unfazed by the request. “Don’t you want to do this bit though?” 

“Storm,” Tony replied. “I want to be here where I can keep my hands on the controls. Also, it’s shift change, and Pepp’s decided that she needs to visit the mainland for some trivial reason.” He scratched his head. “Her mother’s birthday or something. God knows how the minions will cope without her high-heel of authority keeping them in line.”

Bruce sighed. “Figures,” he said and turned to the others. “He can say what he wants about genius and science, but Pepper’s the one who actually makes this place run properly.”

Tony grimaced at him. “Loyalty!” he said. “You could at least pretend to side with me.” Bruce looked unrepentant and Tony shrugged at the others. “You see how I suffer, but the show must go on. Decide which car you want into kids, and let’s get this show on the road.”

Steve ended up in a Jeep with Thor and Phil – Natasha and Clint had seemed oddly eager to ride with Dr. Banner.

The rides were comfortable and roomy enough so that even Steve could stretch his legs out as they pulled away from the visitors’ centre. Thor was busy fiddling with some of the tech in the front seat while Phil looked on with the indulgent smile of a pre-school teacher. 

“Should he be playing with those?”

“Humm?” Phil turned his attention to Steve and smiled. “Oh, yeah. He’ll be fine. Stark will have designed anything to be robust enough for children to mess with on the tour…” There was a worrying crack from the front seat, and Thor looked at the two separate parts of binoculars in his hands with confusion. Phil shrugged. “And if he didn’t, well, he’s rich enough that he can afford to replace a few toys.”

Steve must have looked unconvinced because Phil patted his arm. “Think of it as a robust consumer test,” he said. “It’s easier that way.” 

“Yeah.” Steve looked at the crestfallen expression on Thor’s face. “You’re probably right.” 

_“Welcome to the tour of Jurassic Stark!”_

Steve jumped and looked round. On the back of the headrests and on the visors screens had blinked into life and were showing the smiling face of a cartoon dinosaur. 

_“I am the Starkosaurus Rex, and I am going to be your guide on your trip of the Park today.”_

“Phil?” Steve couldn’t keep the creeping edge of horror from his voice. “Is that Stark?” 

“I think so?” Phil cocked his head to one side and considered the screen. “I mean, it’s a cartoon – I’m fairly sure Tony doesn’t have a tail like that in real life – but his voice… sure.” 

“Oh. Good.” Steve steeled himself. It was just good to know he wasn’t losing his mind. 

_“What’s that?”_ On the screen a small, purple dinosaur joined the Starkosaurus Rex. _“As my good friend, Tonyceratops, says – you need to keep your eyes peeled. These dinosaurs are cunning and they hide real well. So make sure you watch closely, kids!”_

“Phil?”

Phil sighed. “Yes, Captain. The Triceratops has a goatee.” 

“Jesus.” Clint’s voice crackled out of the radio. “How is this my life? Phil? How the fuck did you talk me onto this trip?”

“Quiet, Barton.” Phil looked oddly smug. “You’re getting to see Stark make an ass of himself. You know you want to be here.”

The storm looked like it was advancing faster than JARVIS had predicted. Tony frowned. He’d built enough fail-safes into the systems that he was sure the tour would be secure, but he didn’t like the unpredictability of the weather.

“JARVIS?”

“Yes, sir?” And say what you want about his AI, the sound of his voice comforted Tony, reminded him that he was in control of this operation. 

“Got any data about the storm?”

“It’s onscreen now, sir.”

“Excellent.” Tony ran a few predictions. The tour might need to be cut short, but none of this should be a problem. 

“Mr Stark?”

Tony looked round and saw one of the animal handlers waiting by the door with an uncomfortable look on his face. 

“You here to tell me that the Apatosaurus have grown wings?” The man shook his head. “The fences have been attacked by iron-mites? No? Oh god, the Starkburgers. They weren’t made from 100% organic dog were they?”

“Not that I know of.”

Tony nodded. “So it can’t be that bad. What is it then?” 

The man swallowed nervously. “When Edward was… compromised earlier…”

“Edward?” Tony tried to remember the name, but came up blank. “Do I know an Edward?”

“He was the technician who was moving the Raptor.”

“The one who was eaten?”

“Exactly.” The man looked slightly relieved he didn’t need to say the words. “Anyway, when earlier… happened he was carrying his StarkPad.”

“So?” Tony shrugged. “They’re issued to all staff. I’m sure I can cope with one of them being broken.” 

“It wasn’t broken.” The man shuffled his feet. “It’s… missing.”

“Missing?”

“We think it might be in the Raptor cage.”

“Eh.” Tony switched his attention back to the screen. “So it’s lost, or broken, or whatever. I hardly think a dinosaur is going to be able to use Stark Tech anyway.”

“Phil? Is there any way to mute these things?”

Phil grinned at the radio, even though Clint couldn’t see him. “I don’t think so. Is there a problem, Barton?” 

“Well, I think Natasha is about to enter a killing frenzy, but apart from that, we’re good.” 

“Dr. Banner?” To give him credit, Phil didn’t sound even slightly concerned. 

“Yes, Agent?”

“Do you think there’s any imminent risk of bloodshed?”

“Well, Tony’s not here…” Steve could almost see the wry look on Dr. Banner’s face. “So I think we’re fairly safe.”

“In that case, Barton, sit back and enjoy the tour.” 

“Understood, sir.”

“You seem to know them very well,” Thor said, turning round in his seat, and Steve could see Phil stiffen slightly.

“We’ve worked together a long time.“ 

Thor seemed to accept this and returned his attention to their surroundings. A short way ahead of them was a huge gate, obviously designed to impress, with the words Jurassic Stark emblazoned across them. 

Steve whistled under his breath. “He doesn’t do anything by halves, does he?”

On the screen, the Starkosaurus Rex capered and announced that they were about to enter the Park. Phil grinned. “Damn right he doesn’t.” 

“I suppose we should be grateful that there wasn’t a real Starkosaurus waiting to greet us,” Steve said, and heard the crackle of Dr. Banner’s laughter over the radio. 

“Not yet, there isn’t, but just you wait till the Park’s open to the public.”

“Seriously?”

Phil looked at him, his mouth pressed into a thin smile. “Can you doubt it, Steve? We’re just lucky that he hasn’t thought of Starkburgers.”

“He has.” Steve could hear the long-suffering patience in Dr. Banner’s voice, even without being able to see his face. “And Starkcash. Trust me – there’s not much that Tony misses when the mood takes him.” 

“Starkcash?”

“Don’t ask.” Phil put his hand on Steve’s arm and squeezed it. “And for God’s sake, don’t go into the gift shop if they’ve built that yet. It’ll just upset you.” He didn’t, Steve noticed, move his hand. 

“So, are you two brothers-in-arms?” 

Steve looked up – he had almost forgotten that Thor was in the Jeep. 

“We were in the army together, if that’s what you mean?” he said, cautiously. 

Thor nodded, seemingly satisfied. “You have the comfort together of men who have fought by each other’s side.” 

“Oh, it was hardly that,” Phil said, and to Steve’s shock a faint blush was colouring his cheeks. “Captain Rogers is a legend. I was just lucky enough to be able to offer him support when he was… well,” the flush deepened on his face. “When he needed it in Myanmar.“

Steve turned towards Phil, slightly shocked at this. “I didn’t know you’d been there,” he said. “I mean, you were in the hospital afterwards, but I thought that was Fury wanting to keep an eye on me.” 

Phil pulled his hand back from where it had still been resting on Steve’s arm, and suddenly became very interested in the trees the Jeeps were passing. “Yeah, well, I was involved in the battle,” he said, his voice studiously calm, “and I couldn’t leave you after that, so I… hung round.” 

“Why?” And, in all honesty? Steve didn’t like thinking of that time, but Phil was reacting in a way that Steve would never have anticipated. There was nothing of the quietly smiling, capably aloof man in Phil at the moment. Instead he was blushing and flustered, and Steve wanted to know _why_. 

“It was an honour to help you,” Phil said, his attention still firmly focussed away from Steve. “I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping. I mean, I was, I was present while you were unconscious, after the battle.” Phil closed his eyes. “Just, you know, it's really just a, just a huge honour to have you come out here with us.”

Steve blinked. That was the darkest time he’d lived through. He’d been the only one of his company to survive – and it had taken him months to start to believe that this wasn’t a bad thing. The Army’s campaign to make him the face of the ideal warrior had just made everything more difficult, and Steve had been desperately lonely, unable to go back to what he had been _before_ , and not comfortable moving on when everyone he met saw what he represented rather than the man behind the posters. 

Phil had been an easy presence who had helped Steve to readjust to a world without the people he loved, and Steve had treasured him – did treasure him – for that, but there was obviously more going on, if Phil’s reaction was anything to go by. He made a mental note to talk to Phil about this when they got back to the base. For now he smiled, a little shyly, at Phil and pretended not to hear when Clint said _way to act like a creepy stalker, Coulson_ , his voice cracking through the static of the radio.

Tony frowned. The storm was building fast and was going to hit the island in the next hour or two. He flicked to the cams that were monitoring the Jeeps. Hopefully they’d get a chance to see some of the animals at least. Despite himself, Tony was looking forward to seeing their reactions.

“We are now passing the Euoplocephalus enclosure.” Irritating as the Starkosaurus was, every eye turned to the left and took in the spike-tailed dinosaur browsing at the greenery and seemingly unconcerned by the Jeeps.

“The Euoplocephalus is a herbivore who uses its spiked tail like a club to defend itself in battle. With fossils dating between 76.5 and 67 million years ago, it’s assumed to have…” Steve tuned it out. The information the Starkosaurus was spouting was interesting and all, but it didn’t come close to capturing the majesty of the animal. For something that should have been extinct tens of millions of years ago, it looked remarkably at home; majestic and somehow familiar. Steve watched it for as long as the Jeep paused, ignoring the conversation he could hear between the two groups, and turned to watch it for as long as he could as the small convoy moved on to the next enclosure. 

Thor frowned slightly as they pulled off. “I would like to have seen more of the vegetation that animal was eating,” he said. 

“Botany is your speciality?” Steve asked, and Thor nodded.

“Yes, and impressive as these animals might be, Stark is truly a genius if he has recreated the plants of the Jurassic age.” 

“It’s about time someone recognised that.” Because of the Starkosaurus’s commentary it took Steve a moment to recognise that this was Stark’s voice coming over the radio. “I keep telling everyone – genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, but they only ever seem to hear the middle two.”

Next to Steve, Phil smirked. “We’re all suitably impressed, Tony,” he said. “So, stop fishing for compliments.”

“Sorry,” Stark said, sounding anything but. “Can’t stop and chat. Storms to prepare for; extinct species to revive; fortunes to make… that sort of thing.” 

Steve hid his smile behind his hand and watched the trees as the Jeeps slipped silently on.

“They all seem to be impressed, sir.”

Tony raised an eye at JARVIS’s words. “And so they should. Even without my genius, don’t you know how much this Park has cost me?”

“To the cent, sir.” 

“Well then,” Tony paused to wish that he hadn’t enabled the AI to be _quite_ that sarcastic. “In that case, you know that they should damn well enjoy it.”

“So, this is the T. Rex enclosure?”

“It is.” Dr. Banner answered, and even over the radio Steve could hear a thread of tension running through his voice. “We can’t control the movements of the animals, even though we track them, of course, so this is one of the methods we are trialling.”

Steve looked at the goat tethered far enough beyond the fence that they could see it despite the steep drop from the track down to the enclosure. He felt curiously tense, but the goat seemed oblivious, munching happily at the grass near it. 

“It seems a little barbaric,” he said, and could hear a muffled snort (probably Natasha from the sound of it) from the other Jeep. 

“It’s a work in progress,” Dr. Banner said. “We don’t want to frighten the children by seeing an animal killed, but the T. Rex is dangerous and we can’t risk bringing the tour through the paddock.” 

“I must admit, I do want to see it,” Phil said. “It’s the thing you think of when you say the word dinosaur, you know? All that brutality and strength… it’s admirable.” 

“You wouldn’t say that if you’d seen them close up,” Dr. Banner said, his voice tight. “They’re unthinking beasts, driven by their instincts, and you should pray you’re never faced with one.” 

There was something there, Steve thought, some incident that Dr. Banner didn’t want to share or even think about. He thought about what he knew of T. Rex and shivered. Whatever Dr. Banner had faced, he was obviously both brave and lucky to have survived it. 

“How long do we have to wait?” Clint said, and even without seeing him Steve could tell he was bored and chafing to get out of the Jeep. 

“Until the Rex gets here,” Phil said, but Steve could see the smile on his face.

“Don’t worry, Clint,” Dr. Banner said. “We won’t be here long. With the storm coming, Tony won’t want us waiting here for more than a couple of minutes.” 

He was right. The Jeeps pulled off after a little while leaving the goat unharmed and unconcerned in the clearing.

“What’s wrong?”

Pepper’s voice startled Tony and he looked up from the feed of the Jeeps. 

“I have no idea what you mean,” he said. “Nothing’s wrong. What could possibly be wrong? Nothing, that’s what.”

“Of course not,” she said, her not-taking-any-of-your-bullshit-face firmly in place as she perched on a chair next to him. “That’s why you’re frowning like I scheduled an investors’ meeting on a science day.” She nudged him with her shoulder. “I _know_ you, Stark. So, spill.” 

“You know me too well,” he said, sighing. “Shoulda got rid of you years ago.”

Pepper snorted. “Like you could cope without me.” She smiled at him, robbing her words of sting. “If I could survive being in a relationship with you, I’m not sure there is anything you could do to make me leave. And I recognise the patented Stark-evasion techniques when I see them, you know, so are you going to tell me what’s wrong or am I going to have to beat it out of you?”

She raised her fist and grimaced threateningly, and Tony couldn’t hold back his laughter. 

“It’s stupid,” he said, glancing back at the screens, “but this isn’t how the first tour was meant to go.”

“No?” She rested her head on his shoulder so she could see the screens. “How was it meant to go?”

“It was _meant_ to leave them breathless with wonder.” Tony glanced at her. “Don’t giggle, Potts. It makes you look like a Catholic school girl.”

Pepper wiped her hand over her face, leaving it impassive. “Please continue.”

He huffed, but she didn’t giggle again, and he looked back at the screen where he could see the boredom on the faces of the group. “All they’ve seen is one spiky animal that could have been replaced by a robot with no one being any the wiser, and one goat.” He looked at her. “It’s not even worth the price of admission. They hadn’t even seen any of the insect or mammal life we introduced to give the illusion of a natural environment.”

“It’s early days,” Pepper said, “and the Park isn’t ready for tours yet.”

“But it’s close to it,” Tony said, “and at this rate I’ll only be able to market it as a destination venue for the golden years crowd.”

“You’ll work it out,” she said. “I have faith in you.”

He knew she did, which was what stopped him from palming her off with a glib comment. “But what if I can’t?” he said, quietly, afraid that voicing his fears would make them happen. “What are we going to say to the Board, Pepp? You know the market they’ll see for the animals.”

“We won’t let them.” Her voice was firm. “I oversaw the paperwork for this island myself. No one is able to use anything you develop here for military use, Tony.” She looked him in the eyes. “The only way that any of these animals will see a battlefield is if they manage to get a plane off the island and get to one under their own steam.” 

Tony put his arm round her, finding comfort in the familiar fit of her body against his. “It’s important to me, Pepper.” 

“I know,” she said, relaxing against him. “Which is why I am here with you and not in New York heading up my own company.”

“Don’t make me say the feelings-words, Potts.” 

She laughed. “God forbid.” She pressed into his embrace. “It’ll work out, Tony, and even if it doesn’t, I think you underestimate the Board. They know what you went through in Afghanistan, and no one wants you to keep designing bio-tech weapons.” 

“So far,” Tony said, his chest twinging at the mention of Afghanistan, an echo of the pain that had accompanied his kidnap, escape, and recovery. “That’ll change if the profits drop off.” Pepper’s silence was as good as agreement. “I need to prove that bio-tech can be used for more than just weapons. You know that.” 

“And you will. This isn’t even the trial tour, Tony. We’ve got plenty of time to sort out problems.” She tightened her hold into a hug before pulling away. “Do you need me to stay?”

“Humm?” He looked up from the screen. “Oh, yes. The mainland. No. You go. You have stuff to do, and there’s a storm scheduled which’ll keep me busy.” 

“And you don’t need a hand?” Pepper looked concerned. 

“Of course not! Look, you’re right. It will be fine, I just wanted to wow them.” He put his game-face on, unwilling to admit how much he’d wanted to throw those overheard words back in their faces. Pepper did know him too well though. 

“You will,” she said, pulling him into a rough hug. “You’re Tony Stark, baby. That’s enough to impress anyone.” 

He laughed. “Sure, Pepp. And you’re not biased at all.”

“Of course not.” She kissed his cheek and pulled away. “I’ll see you in a few days, okay? Do try not to get into any mischief while I’m gone.”

“Sure thing, boss.” He sketched a quick salute at her as she left the room, wishing for a second that he’d asked her to stay. It was a selfish impulse though, and worse than that – needy, so he turned back to the screens and tried to forget his disappointment in favour of double-checking his preparations for the storm.

“Wait! Thor!” Phil leant forward in his seat but he was too late to catch Thor who had taken advantage of the Jeeps halting to leave the vehicle.

“What’s he doing?” Dr. Banner said, and Phil frowned. 

“He saw the vet with the Triceratops and just left.”

Dr. Banner sighed. “It could be worse, I guess. At least the vet’s there.”

“So, can we join them?” Clint sounded hopeful and even Steve would be glad to stretch his legs, so he heard Phil’s resigned sigh with relief. 

“What do you think, Dr. Banner? Is it safe?”

Dr. Banner snorted. “Safer than staying here if the look on Natasha’s face is anything to go by,” he said, and the doors to the other Jeep swing open and Clint and Natasha emerged slightly before Dr. Banner. 

The climb down to the vet was steep, though not the sheer drop that had guarded the Rex enclosure. The air smelt heavy with promised rain, and the vegetation was very green and lush as they pushed through it. And the Triceratops…

Not all his years on the battlefield, not all his experience with genetically engineered animals had prepared Steve for this.

The animal was massive, easily as big as a rhino, and when Steve laid a cautious hand to its flank, it was warm. He caught his breath, overcome with awe. Thor was deep in an involved conversation with the vet, while Clint and Natasha were scanning their surroundings with watchful and appraising eyes, but Phil seemed similarly affected. Steve turned to him and smiled.

“This sure is something, isn’t it?”

“It sure is.” Phil laid his hand next to Steve’s, but his attention was completely on the dinosaur, and for a long while they just stood there, listening to it breathe, while around them the paddock rippled with a susurrus of life. 

It was only when the first drops of rain fell that Steve realised how long he had spent there. He looked round. Clint and Natasha were still watching the long grass, both of them now armed to the teeth, even though Steve would have sworn they hadn’t been carrying any weapons when they left the Jeeps. Bruce was standing with the vet, deep in conversation and their attention turned towards Thor, who seemed to be rooting happily through a large pile of…

“Yeah,” Phil muttered. “That’s exactly what it looks like.” He headed off with a sigh towards Dr. Banner and the vet, and Steve gave the Triceratops a last pat and followed.

“My readings say that we have thirty minutes until the storm starts to hit us properly,” JARVIS said, and Tony nodded.

“Yeah. Agreed. We need to pull the tour back now; if they’ve finished their fieldtrip that is.” He squinted at the footage. For some reason Thor was shoulder deep in a heap of dinosaur dung while the others were gossiping like mothers at a coffee klatch. “Patch me through to Coulson.” 

“Tell me there’s a reason for this?” he asked as soon as Phil lifted his cell to his ear. 

Phil turned and flashed a grin right at the camera Tony was watching. “You need a reason, Stark?”

“I sent you out on a harmless little tour of my Park, and yet there you all are – treating it like a walking safari and making the grossest mud pies in existence. So yes, Coulson, I need a goddam reason.” 

“Calm down, Tony.” And Tony had no idea at all whether Phil used that tone because he knew it irritated the hell out of Tony, or if it was just an unlucky coincidence. “You asked some of the world’s experts on this sort of thing to take a trip through your Park, and you’re surprised when they want to get their hands dirty?” He shook his head at the camera. “You’re slipping if you thought that would work.” 

“Yeah, well. Call it optimistic hope or something, Coulson, but seriously, you need to be heading back now before the storm hits.”

He saw Phil nod before checking where the rest of the team were. 

“Agreed,” he said, and raised his voice. “Dr. Banner? Captain? Thor? We need to get back in the Jeeps and head back to camp now.”

Thor frowned at him. “I wish to stay with the animal. I think it’s been eating the berries on the plants, and it needs treatment.”

“That’s what I employ the vets for,” Tony snapped. “Let them deal with this.”

“Dr. Blake has been very helpful,” the vet said, looking round, unsure where the cameras were. “And this should only take another ten minutes or so if he’s right. I can drop him back to base when we’re done.”

Tony sighed. He knew a losing battle when he saw one. “The rest of you though…”

“Yes,” Phil said, not letting him finish. “Back in the Jeeps.”

Rogers and Bruce nodded and started to head back to the track without comment. Tony saw Phil nod at Barton and Romanov and they turned back as well, though they kept scanning the surroundings for movement, and Tony noticed that they didn’t lower their weapons all the way back to the vehicles.

“Shotgun!” Clint crowed with such enthusiasm that Steve grinned.

“What happened to riding with Dr. Banner?” Phil asked, and Barton gave him a look.

“A seat comes free in the cool car and you want me to ride with Dr. Banner while he tries to scare Natasha with stories of how dangerous the dinosaurs are?” He shook his head. “Man, you’re losing your touch if you think that’s even a choice.”

Phil grinned. “Far be it from me to dissuade you,” he said. “But so help me God, if you keep asking if we’re there yet, you’ll be walking back to base – I don’t care how dangerous the animals are.”

“You love me really, sir,” Clint said, swinging himself through the window into the front seat of the Jeep. 

Phil smiled at him, the expression softening the lines of his face, and when he saw Steve watching he only shrugged.

It took Tony longer than it normally would to work out that something was wrong. He had no excuse – he was watching the storm, yes, and really? Nothing usually went wrong with the Park on a grand scale. Tony was, after all, a genius.

The storm was probably about ten minutes out when the lights flickered, and Tony looked up, frowning. 

“JARVIS? What was that?”

“I don’t know, sir.” For all that JARVIS was a computer programme (albeit a brilliant one) he sounded concerned. “I’m getting code input I shouldn’t be seeing.”

“What the hell do you mean?” Tony was seriously concerned. He’d been careful with security on this project – the animals were his babies, and he sure as hell didn’t want them getting into the hands of the Army or weapons manufacturers. No, he rubbed his chest. He’d learnt that one the hard way in Afghanistan. He’d taken every precaution. Locked down the systems so that the only way to access them was from within the system – from within the island. The whole thing was totally self sufficient, and there was no way that it could be hacked from the outside.

Which, of course, left the unpalatable option that one of his staff was doing this. He frowned. No matter how careful he was with recruitment and background checks, someone always got greedy sooner or later. 

“Where’s it coming from, JARVIS?”

“My readings show that whoever’s doing this is using a StarkPad. It seems to be registered to the island, sir.”

“So whoever it is, it’s one of the staff?” Tony asked.

“Or someone using one of their Pads, sir,” JARVIS corrected. “We have had one go missing recently, after all.”

“That Raptor?” Tony laughed to himself. “Not fucking likely, no matter how intelligent the keepers say they are.”

“I am not suggesting the animals are breaking into the systems, sir,” JARVIS said, his tone making it plain that he was humouring Tony. “But it was a convenient excuse for a pad to be missing, and it made sure you didn’t bother looking for it.” 

“Well, shit.” Tony frowned. “How bad is this going to get?”

“I don’t know, sir. I am monitoring the input and trying to isolate it, but whoever is behind this is highly intelligent and you would be best to prepare for the fact they may succeed in compromising me.” 

“Not on my watch,” Tony said, his mouth set into a grim line and already clicking open screens to do what he could to combat the threat. Anyone who tried to mess with JARVIS was about to find out just how much of a bad idea it was to take on the genius that was Tony Stark.

“Well, this is fun,” Clint said over the drumming of the rain on the roof of the Jeep. The storm had picked up since they’d started back towards the base.

“The animals were impressive though,” Steve said, and Clint hummed in response. 

“It’s a shame we didn’t see the T. Rex,” he said. “I wonder if the goat is still there?”

“You’ll see soon enough,” Dr. Banner said over the radio. “We’re only a few minutes from the enclosure.”

“What’s the plan from here?” Steve asked Phil.

“Get an early night, I guess, and go out again tomorrow. We should complete the tour at least before we start running evaluations on the risk levels.”

Steve nodded. 

“How are we going to do that? Go into the enclosures?”

“It’s risky,” Phil said. “But I don’t see another way to do it.” 

Clint snorted. “Risky? This is nothing compared to Budapest.”

Dr. Banner laughed dryly. “You say that now, when all you’ve seen are the herbivores. Just wait till you see some of the big animals.” 

“You say that, Banner, but I’ve not seen any sign that…” Clint broke off as the Jeep shuddered and came to a halt on its tracks. 

“What’s happening?” Phil asked, suddenly fully alert. “Stark? Are you listening in?”

“I am,” Stark said, sounding stressed. “Things have got a little… unpredictable here, Coulson. I’ve lost the visual feed. What’s happened?” 

“We seem to have stopped,” Phil said. “Any idea why?” 

“I’m fairly confident there’s nothing to worry about,” Stark said, and Clint groaned. “But someone seems to have hacked the systems here and it’s obviously stalled the tour.”

Steve frowned in concern at Phil’s raised eyebrow. “This is serious then?”

Phil nodded. “Say what you like about Stark, his systems are notoriously hard to crack.” 

“Obviously not hard enough,” Stark snapped. “Look, I’m going to try and get the tour running again to get you back to base, but if that doesn’t work then I’ll try to hack the Jeeps’ controls so that you can drive them yourself.” 

“We can’t just walk back to base?” Steve asked. “It can’t be more than a couple of miles.” 

“Well, yeah,” Stark replied. “That’s an option. Except it might be possible that the hacker’s targeting the security systems from what I can see, and if that succeeds there is nothing to stop the animals from getting you apart from the wire fences.” 

Clint grinned and started to reach for his jacket, but Phil batted the back of his head. 

“Message understood,” Phil said. “We’ll stay here for the time being then.” 

Clint huffed, but subsided in his seat, maintaining his sulk for all of thirty seconds before he started pulling out the various bits of kit from under the seats. Phil sighed in exasperation, but he looked fond rather than angry and Steve hid his smile by looking out the window. 

He could see something white moving in the clearing below the track, and was puzzled before he caught the sound of bleating, and realized they were back at the T. Rex enclosure. He watched the goat, more concerned with the reasons why anyone would hack into Stark’s systems than in the conversation that was buzzing between the two Jeeps. 

He could see the military potential of these animals – could also see that Stark was dead-set on not allowing them to be exploited that way. The primary concern had to be that this was either espionage or an outright military attack, infiltrating the Stark systems either for the research or to lower the security systems far enough to allow a team access to the island so they could just steal some of the animals. 

Steve sighed. Unfortunately his experience with army bio-research meant he knew that either of these were viable prospects if the military had got wind of what Stark was doing here. 

He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn’t register the vibrations of the window against his forehead for a moment. 

“Guys?” He pulled himself upright. “Is the island prone to earthquakes?” 

“No,” Dr. Banner said, his voice strangely tight. “That’s the vibration of one of the Rex approaching.” He cleared his throat. “It must be… attracted to the sound of the goat even through the rain.” 

Clint moved over to the other front seat peering through a pair of binoculars he’d found. 

“Cool,” he said. “Night vision. You wanna take a look, sir?”

Phil leant forward, but shook his head. “You hold onto them. And use the damn strap, Barton. You know you’ll lose them otherwise.”

Clint grinned, slipping them over his head. “It’s like you know me, or something,” he said. “Remind me to tell Stark I like these though.” He fiddled with a button on the side of the glasses. “They even give you information about the animals. Did you know that lady Rex were bigger than the men?”

Phil smiled, indulgent, and even though he wasn’t bouncing in his seat like Clint, it was obvious he shared his interest. 

Steve couldn’t blame them. Even with the hacking and the problems to the tour, Steve felt a thrill of excitement at seeing an animal like this in the flesh. He shifted himself so that Phil could lean against him and see out the window properly, ignoring Clint’s snort of amusement. 

He caught sight of movement in the trees, but Clint had already put his hand on Phil’s arm, directing him to where the animal was clearly waiting. 

“It’s testing the air,” Dr. Banner said. “Waiting to see if there are any other big predators around before it comes out. It’s likely to be the juvenile female – none of the others are that careful.” 

“How many others are there?” Steve asked.

“Only one,” Dr. Banner said. “Sorry – I forgot the other one wasn’t there anymore.”

“And do you have any other big carnivores?” Steve asked.

“No, only the Raptors, though they can hardly be called large.” Dr. Banner sucked the air in over his teeth thoughtfully. “They’re vicious though, but it would take a large group working together to bring down a full-grown bull Rex.”

“I thought you only bred females?” Phil asked, and Dr. Banner laughed coldly. 

“We did, but things at the start weren’t as precise as they are now, and I ended up picking up all sorts of interesting facts I never expected to.” 

“Are the Raptors in the Park?” Steve asked.

“No. Their keeper says that would be a bad idea,” Dr. Banner said. “He insists they’re too intelligent to be allowed the free rein that the others have and they need to be kept isolated.” 

“Aw,” Clint said. “They take away all our fun.” 

Phil snorted, but made no reply, and Steve turned his attention back to the goat, still browsing, unconcerned, and just about visible through the rain. 

“Does it know we’re here?” he asked. “Or will the rain mask us?”

Dr. Banner snorted. “It wouldn’t care,” he said. “These things don’t reason – they’re mindless beasts who’ll chase down anything that moves.”

The trees parted as the Rex pushed into the clearing, moving surprisingly fast for a creature of its bulk. Steve whistled. “That’s small?” he asked; it must have been nearly thirty foot long. 

“Yes,” Dr. Banner said, voice tight, as the animal seized the terrified goat with its forearms and tore into it. “That’s small. And it doesn’t care if we are here at all – the only thing it cares about is if there’s a bigger Rex around who might challenge it.” 

As if responding to his words, the Rex paused and moved its head this way and that, as if searching for a scent. 

“Tony?” Dr. Banner’s voice had a hint of desperation creeping into the tone. “I know you’re busy, but is there any chance you’ve managed to give us control of the Jeeps? Now would be a really good time to get out of here.”

Steve could see Phil frown and he was concerned. Dr. Banner sounded worried, almost afraid, and Steve wondered what he knew that they didn’t. 

“…should be able to… modified what I can…” Stark’s voice was obviously stressed, and the radio crackled and hissed, losing part of what he was saying in the static. “Shit… like security’s out… try to repair the comms...”

“Great.” Dr. Banner’s relief was almost palpable. “Natasha, can you drive us? Phil…”

“Barton can drive,” Phil said, nodding to Clint. “Let’s get this show on the…” Whatever Phil was about to say was lost, as the Rex raised its head and roared – a visceral noise that made the hairs on Steve’s neck stand on end. 

“Shit.” Steve heard Dr. Banner’s sharp intake of breath, but it was Natasha who spoke. “Phil? I think Dr. Banner has a problem here.”

“Get out of there, Natasha” Stark said, his voice clear now despite the interference on the line. “Leave him and get to the other Jeep. Coulson, wait till she gets to you then get the hell back here.”

“What about Dr. Banner?” Steve could hear the concern in Natasha’s voice. “He doesn’t look well…”

“ _Leave him_.” There was more than an edge of panic to Stark’s voice now. 

“I don’t think that’s app…” Steve started, but he was cut off by Natasha’s scream. Clint sat bolt upright, completely focussed on the other Jeep.

“Phil…” he started.

“I see,” Phil said, though what he saw, Steve had no idea. He could make out nothing but a sharp jerking of the other vehicle, and one of the doors flying open. “What the fuck is this, Tony?”

“You have time for this now, Phil? Seriously? There was an accident – mistakes were made. Now, just get Natasha and get the fuck out of there.”

Through the rain, Steve could see that Dr. Banner was lying in the mud by the Jeep, his body taut with pain. 

“Shit,” Clint said, his voice almost awed. “Is he growing?”

“Looks like,” Phil said. “Can you see Nat?”

“No.” Clint frowned. “I’m going to get her.” 

He was gone almost as soon as he spoke, slipping from the Jeep silently, leaving Steve and Phil to watch in growing horror as Dr. Banner’s contortions became more frantic. 

“Jesus,” Phil said. “Stark? Is Dr. Banner turning into a dinosaur?”

Things were officially fucked.

The comms were patchy as hell, JARVIS was almost completely out of action, and the juvenile Rex had obviously triggered some territorial instinct in Bruce that was forcing him to transform. 

Frankly, Tony thought, things couldn’t get much worse.

He flicked desperately through the screens in front of him, trying to monitor what was happening with Bruce while keeping the hacker from getting into the core of JARVIS’s programming. Forced transformations were always hardest on him – when he chose to shift he had much more control. Tony knew though that Bruce would have fought this every step of the way. He would never transform in front of outsiders, Tony found it hard enough to persuade him even when he could control all the variables. 

Tony always found it fascinating. To be able to transform into a bull T. Rex was amazing. It might have been the result of a freak accident back in the early days of their work, but the implications were astonishing if only Bruce would embrace the change. 

Now, though? Yeah. Even Tony could admit this was not the time.

He could see Romanov scramble from the Jeep, her face distorted by fear. She still had a few seconds to escape, but Tony knew that once Bruce finished transforming he would be fast and strong and once he fixed on Romanov, she stood no chance against him. 

He wasn’t worried about Bruce – the other guy was able to shrug off any attack – but unless Phil had taken his warning to heart and got the group out of there he couldn’t see this ending well. 

His heart sank as he saw the other guy straighten, all trace of Bruce now gone, and fix his eyes on Romanov. He just hoped that she was as good as Phil had told him. Whatever skills she had – she was going to need them now if she wanted to stay alive.

“We need to do something,” Steve said, eyes wide in horror at the scene that was unfolding in front of them. “We can’t just leave them there.”

“No,” Phil said. “If I go and help, can you distract him?”

Steve nodded. “There’s a flashlight under the seat here. You get them back here and I’ll have the engine running.” 

“Right, then.” Phil shot him a grin. “I did promise that the trip would be interesting, didn’t I?”

Despite everything, Steve couldn’t stifle a chuckle. “Yeah. I can hardly say you lied.” 

He waited for Phil to climb out before he clambered into the front seat, snagging his backpack as he moved, and looping it over his arm. It might have been a trivial thing, but he felt better with it to hand – he’d never got out of the habit of keeping it packed with things he might need, and right now he needed all the reassurance he could get. At least the Jeep started easily though, and he spared a thought to thank Stark for apparently considering the possibility that this might be needed, before he turned on the torch and leaned on the horn. 

The animal’s (Bruce’s) eyes fixed on him almost immediately, and it swung round, lowering its head and bellowing at Steve. For a second Steve froze, overwhelmed by a primal need for survival, but then he saw Clint reach Natasha, pulling her close and gesturing back towards the Jeep and Steve knew he had to keep the animal’s attention to give them a chance to get back to the vehicle. 

He leant on the horn. The Rex roared again, then started to charge forward. Steve braced himself, but the Rex easily pushed the Jeep off its tracks. Steve hung on as it spun, waiting till it came to a rest before checking where the animal was. It was behind him now, standing between the Jeep and Natasha and Clint. Phil was in the narrow space between the Jeep and the lip of the Rex enclosure, and shit. This was not going to end well. 

The Rex lowered its head to charge again, and Steve realised that this wouldn’t work. With the animal’s attention on the Jeep, he couldn’t get the others into it and drive off. The only hope was to abandon the vehicle and try to get to the other Jeep. 

He waited till the Rex was picking up speed, before he opened the door and threw himself clear, rolling to break his fall as he heard the Jeep hit the wall of the enclosure.

He didn’t wait to see what happened to the Jeep – he launched himself into a full out sprint towards Clint and Natasha. Behind him the Rex roared again, and when Steve risked a glance over his shoulder, he saw the sweep of the Rex’s tail knock the Jeep clean over the wall and into the enclosure. 

He knew, remembered reading, that Rex could reach speeds of over 30 miles an hour, and as Natasha and Clint started to run ahead of him, as desperate as he was to escape the beast, he knew they had no chance of escape. There was nowhere to hide, no chance they would be able to get into the other Jeep and drive off before the Rex reached them and took them out. All Steve could do was to keep running and to brace himself for the impact of the animal’s teeth that he was sure was coming. 

“Hey!”

Phil’s voice cut through the storm, and Steve, turning his head to see what was going on, stumbled and fell.

Phil was advancing, his pace steady and expression impassive. He held a flare in his hand, its light shining through the rain. 

“Over here!” he shouted, and raising his hand above his head he started to run in lazy zig-zags in the other direction. The Rex looked almost comically confused for a second before it turned and started lumbering after Phil. It was so close that its tail swept over Steve’s head and he flattened himself into the mud to avoid it. 

“Phil! No!” Clint sounded desperate and he started to run after the animal before Natasha caught him.

“No, Clint! Leave him. You know he’ll be fine. It’s _Phil_.”

Clint turned round, a stormy look on his face, but he stopped running and offered a hand to Steve, pulling him roughly to his feet.

“We need to get off the road,” Steve said. “But the only place I can see is the enclosure.” 

“We’ll be safe enough in the trees,” Clint said. “At least until the storm passes. What do you think, Tasha?”

“I do not care provided we get out of here,” she said, and though her voice held all its usual dignity, Steve could hear how badly shaken she was. Clint seemed to hear it too, because he pressed a hand to her shoulder and passed her a gun. 

“Come on, then,” he said. “Let’s get out of here before it decides it would rather make a meal of us.” 

He led the way, Natasha following him, and Steve at their backs, making sure they were still alone. It only took Clint a minute to find a tree that suited his purposes and Natasha turned to Steve.

“I could use a boost,” she said, and Steve knelt down, lacing his hands together. Beside her he saw Clint tense.

“Guys?” Clint said. “You might want to hurry this up a bit.”

Natasha paled, but she stepped gracefully into Steve’s hands and used the boost he gave her to leap, cat-like, into the tree. Clint flashed him a smile and scrambled after her, swinging himself round so that he hung from the lowest branch by his knees and he could offer his arms to Steve. 

Steve leapt and caught on to him, and though he did so with significantly less grace, he made it into the tree as well. Behind him the Rex roared, and it sounded like frustration and rage. 

Steve risked a glance backwards, and drew in a sharp breath. The Rex was barely a hundred feet from them, and it was completely focussed on where they were in the tree. And over the stubby length of its arm, fluttering like a parody of a white flag, was the blood-stained cloth of a white shirt. 

They paused for a moment, frozen in horror at the implications of this, then the animal – Bruce – charged and there was no time for anything but to scramble to the tree trunk and down into the unknown risks that awaited in the enclosure.


	2. Chapter 2

Tony frowned in frustration. 

He could just about follow what was happening as the video feed flashed on and off, but fuck, he hated feeling out of control like this, having to put his faith in people he barely knew to keep themselves alive. 

He liked Phil, and of course he wanted the others to survive, but he was most worried about Bruce. If anything happened to Phil or his party, Bruce would never forgive himself. 

The interference from the hacking was getting worse, and JARVIS had to devote nearly all his resources to fending it off. Tony was trying to avoid facing the fact that he was going to have to reboot the system to bring JARVIS back online and freeze the hacker out, but for all of Tony’s faults (and Pepper for one would be quick to enumerate them) he didn’t lie to himself. Not even the comforting little lies that would let him watch something like this unfold in front of him with some degree of equanimity. 

He looked at Romonov’s – at _Natasha’s_ face as she cowered from the Other Guy, saw the naked fear there, and knew without a shadow of a doubt that if Bruce hurt her it would kill something inside him. 

Bruce didn’t deserve that – well, nor did Natasha, but Tony knew where his priorities lay, and it was with those few people who cared for him for more than his wealth, his name, what he could give them. 

He watched with barely supressed horror as Phil drew Bruce’s attention, drawing him away from the others, but not running fast enough. 

Tony scrubbed a hand over his face. There was only one way this could end, and, as the screens in front of him flickered, he saw Bruce knock Phil to the ground and start to tear at him, ruining the sleek lines of Phil’s suit with blossoming red wounds. 

He didn’t look away – couldn’t. Phil was a friend, and this was Tony’s fault – _his_ fault and the least he could do was to bear witness to what was happening. 

The last he saw before the feed flickered off to the finality of a blank screen was the Rex – Bruce – lift his head as if scenting the air, and then… nothing. 

Jesus fuck. Tony tried to restart the feed, desperately typing commands that he feared would be futile, until he gave up and hit out at the monitor in blind frustration. And… that shouldn’t have worked, but it _did_ and the picture sprang back to life and showed… well. Very little. 

Tony groaned. Phil was lying still on the track. His shirt had been torn off, revealing his wounds. Natasha, Barton, and Rogers were nowhere to be seen – and fortunately neither was Bruce. 

“Pepper?” He called for her by instinct, cursing when he remembered that she’d gone to the mainland – and that he couldn’t remember the name of anyone who was left. “Minions? _Guys_?” 

Tony was surprised at how desperate his voice was, how raw, but he didn’t care. He was almost certain he could see Phil breathing, and if he could get him back to base, if he could get him medical treatment… well, he might just be able to save both Phil and Bruce.

Clint and Natasha managed to make running through the treetops seem almost effortless. It was much harder going for Steve, but the sound of roaring and breaking branches coming from behind them was an excellent incentive, and he kept pace well enough.

Still, he was reaching the end of his endurance, becoming clumsy, and at this height a single misstep would be enough to finish him off – even without the dinosaurs. 

It was Natasha who caught him by the collar when he inevitably did stumble, manhandling him back onto the branch with a brutal efficiency that surprised him. 

“Can you manage?” she asked, her hand still on his shoulder to steady him. 

He was panting, the muscles in his thighs burning with exertion. “I can,” he said. “But I’m slowing us down.” He pushed her hand off his shoulder. “You guys go ahead, and I’ll catch you up?”

“Yeah.” Clint appeared from behind the trunk of the tree, a good ten feet above Steve. “That’s not happening.” He stared into the distance, mouth twisted in a considering frown as he assessed the risks of staying still. 

“He’s right.” Natasha jerked her head at Clint. “We stand a better chance of survival if we stick together.” 

Steve sighed. “Right then. Let’s get moving.”

They ran on for another five minutes, and their hesitation had cost them; behind them the sound of Bruce’s progress was closer, and Steve wondered how much longer they could keep ahead of him for. 

It came to a crashing halt though when they reached a clearing. Natasha was already committed to a leap and it was only Clint’s quick thinking this time that managed to stop her falling.

Ahead of them, scenting the air through its vast jaws, was another T. Rex. 

“Jesus,” Clint said, his voice a hiss. “How many of these things are there?” 

“Two,” Steve said, thinking back to what Bruce had said in the Jeep. “This must be the adult female.”

“At least it’s calmer than Bruce?” Clint said, and he was right, but at the moment that was very cold comfort. 

“I think it’s seen us,” Natasha said, a thread of fear in her voice. “We need to get out of here.”

“Where to?” Clint said. “Bruce is still behind us, and there’s no way around.” 

“We need to get across the clearing,” Steve said. “They run fast, we know that, but they don’t turn well, and if we can get up into the trees across there, we should be able to escape it.” 

“Piece of cake,” Clint said, and grinned at Natasha. “Reminds me of old times.” 

Natasha snorted. “And that is one of the many reasons we don’t date any more, Barton.”

“You love me really,” he said, and started climbing down the tree.

Natasha shrugged at Steve and followed Clint, moving nimbly down the drunk. And really? There was no other option. Steve dropped out of the tree, landing as lightly as he could and grinned up at the others, still climbing down. 

He remembered reading, back when he was a child, that T. Rex had notoriously poor eyesight. He’d never imagined that he would actually need the information at the time, but he was placing his hope in it now. 

They moved as a group, keeping low to the ground, seeking the cover of the shrubbery where they could, but it still wasn’t enough. They were less than halfway across the clearing when the animal noticed them, and spun round roaring, its attention completely focussed on them. 

Steve shot a look at Clint. 

“I’m going to distract it,” he said. “You get Natasha out of…”

He broke off in pain as Natasha punched him in the arm. “Just you wait until we are all out of here, Rogers,” she hissed. “I will give you such a lesson on equality in combat situations.”

Steve opened his mouth to apologise, or explain, or something, and Clint looked like he would laugh, and, God, they were going to _die_ here, and this was still the best team Steve had worked with since leaving the army… and then Bruce crashed into the clearing. 

The female Rex spun around, but Bruce didn’t hesitate. Even though the female was slightly larger, he attacked her, snapping his jaws and catching her shoulder. Steve didn’t wait to see what happened; as one the group sprinted for the far side of the clearing and the two dinosaurs were so immersed in their fight that they didn’t even notice. 

It was only fifteen minutes later, safe in the very top branches of a tree and far enough away that they had passed a fence into another enclosure, that they stopped. 

Clint flopped down, lying back on a branch and laughing in relief. “I can’t believe we got out of that,” he said, and Natasha nodded, perching on the branch next to him. 

“We’ve still got a long way to go,” Steve said. “We’re not home and dry yet.”

“We are for the moment,” Natasha said. “We’re losing the light and it would be suicide to travel on without it.”

She was right. The branches were slick with rain now, and even though he didn’t like it, he settled down next to Natasha and Clint, the three of them pressing together to share body heat. Even though he didn’t think he would – wasn’t sure he could – Steve managed to fall asleep before he could finish working out his plans for the morning.

Tony was at the end of his tether. There might be a hundred ways to rescue Phil from where he had fallen, but right now Tony wasn’t sure that any of them would be fast enough.

The most obvious solution was to drive out to get Phil, but the attack on JARVIS seemed to be escalating, and if Tony left now, there was no guarantee that there would be a safe place to bring Phil back to. There was no one else to send though, and it turned Tony’s stomach to think that Phil would die there, bleeding out alone on the track, on Tony’s land. 

He swallowed down the bitter burn of blame. This Park, this life? It was meant to stop the Stark legacy of death. Hell, if he’d wanted to keep killing people, he could just have continued in his father’s esteemed footsteps. 

He was just about to damn it all and go anyway when he saw movement on the screen. For a hideous second he thought that Bruce was back to finish the job – and wouldn’t there be a fight for the self-blame trophy if that happened – but it wasn’t. It was the vet’s Jeep, and before Tony even started to try and make contact, they saw Phil and the Jeep skidded to a halt. 

Tony slumped back in the chair, shaky with relief, and watched as the vet and Thor rushed to Phil’s side and started to tend to his wounds. He wanted, more than anything, to be able to hear what they were saying, to be able to shout instructions, but he couldn’t. At least, trapped in this unaccustomed inactivity, he was able to see, and he started to feel hope again. 

He waited until they put Phil in the back of the Jeep, and he saw Phil’s eyelids flicker open, before he pushed his chair away from the bank of screens and scrambled down towards where the Jeep would arrive. 

It would have been an overstatement to call the scene in the entrance hall chaos, but only just, and only because the bulk of the staff had left for the mainland already. The few scientists that had remained were huddled together, deep in emphatic conversation, and animal keepers were moving fast and with purpose, their weapons evident and grim looks on their faces. 

Tony saw the head of the Raptor team heading across the hall towards the door, a modified cattle prod, its end glowing blue, in his hands. 

“Wait,” he said, Coulson and the others temporarily forgotten in his new concern. “You, whatever your name is. The Raptors. Are the pens still secure?”

The keeper nodded, his mouth pulled into a grim line. “It’s Loki,” he said, giving Tony an assessing look. “And yes. The pens aren’t compromised. For the moment.” He paused and seemed to smirk at Tony. “You don’t want to see what would happen if they get loose.”

Tony nodded. He knew how dangerous the Raptors were. “Keep your focus on keeping the pens secure. The hacking is targeting the security systems and even though the Raptor fences are the part of the core safety protocols, they might get that far.” 

“We wouldn’t want that, sir.” The words sounded sincere, and Loki looked totally serious, but something about the way he said it made the skin on back of Tony’s neck prickle. 

“No,” Tony said slowly, thinking through his options. “I think we should…”

“We need a doctor out here.” One of the maintenance hands rushed in through the doors, and two of the scientists ran towards him. 

“Never mind,” Tony said, desperate to make sure that Phil survived. “We’ll pick this up later.”

He turned away from Loki and went to join the others outside. For a second the stress of the moment seemed to overwhelm him, and when he glanced back, Loki’s skin appeared to be lit with a dark blue hue and there was an expression of fierce, malevolent glee in his eyes. Tony blinked and looked again, but it must have been a trick of the light. Loki had the same concerned and frightened look that all the other keepers wore.

“Coulson.” Phil blinked up at Tony, his eyes very blue in the dying light and his mouth still quirking at the corners, like even this amused him. “You gave me quite a fright back there.”

“Careful, Stark.” Phil’s words were laboured and it obviously cost him to speak. “People might think you care.”

Tony snorted. “Like anyone can hear me over this racket.”

“What is the noise?”

Tony looked round. The night air was filled with a curious combination of clicks and shrieks that were alarming, despite the fact that Tony knew exactly what they were. Or maybe _because_ Tony knew what they were.

“That’s the Raptors,” he said, and Phil frowned up at him. 

“Are they usually this… vocal?”

“No.” They weren’t. In fact, the Raptor enclosure was normally quiet as the grave, and you could choose your own key word in that phrase – Tony knew he could. He’d seen the video footage after all. “They’re excited about something. I’ll ask the keeper when we’ve got you settled in medical.”

He nodded at the guys with the makeshift stretcher and they headed off. Something about this whole situation – the storm, the hacker, the Raptors’ behaviour – felt wrong to him. The storm had passed and he was working on the hacker, but the Raptors worried him. He couldn’t put his finger on why, but he was going to get to the bottom of it if it killed him, and he hoped that Loki could help. 

He stopped when he heard someone shouting his name. Phil’s entourage had stopped at the doors of the building, and Phil was waving at him.

“The Raptors,” Phil said. “Do they communicate with each other?”

Tony paused. “Not as far as I know,” he said. 

Phil raised an eyebrow. “Yeah. But it sounds like…”

Tony nodded. “It does,” he said. “Yeah.” The thought made him shiver. Alone the Raptors were formidable foes; if they could communicate and coordinate their attack? Well, Tony was just glad they were penned in the most secure enclosure and he would never have to find out, because, frankly, he wouldn’t fancy his chances at all.

It hadn’t taken long to get Phil settled. The medical team were top notch, even with the skeleton staff that remained on the island as the storm raged.

Nonetheless, it had been the small hours of the morning before one of the doctors made his way to Tony’s workroom with the news that Phil was out of danger. Probably. Mostly. 

Unfortunately, everything else was still going to hell. 

Try as he might, Tony had not been able to find hide nor hair of Rogers, Romanov, or Barton; Bruce was still missing, presumed green, angry, and vicious; the hacker was still making a concerted effort to seize control of the island’s systems – and more worryingly JARVIS; and to top it off, the only sound that Tony could hear over the beating of the rain and the tapping of his keyboard was the piercing shrieks of the Raptors echoing out from their cages. 

Tony wasn’t given to allowing his imagination free range, but by 4am even he would have been willing to admit that the eerie noise was grating on his last nerve, and he was wondering why he’d allowed the damned things to develop after they’d realised just what they’d cloned. 

He’d go down at first light, he promised himself, and talk to the keeper again. 

In the meantime, his priority had to be the security systems. 

He’d taken down all the unnecessary Park functions hours ago, but he’d started to come to the horrible conclusion that he’d need to disable the core security features to finally shut down the hacker. 

Tony scrubbed his hand through his hair. The fact that the internal fences between paddocks were down was a shambles – one that might take years to recover from, but if they had to shut down the perimeter fences, the lab safety systems, the _Raptor enclosure_ it would be much, much worse. Something they might not survive, and certainly something the Park could never recover from. 

He’d never even consider it if he hadn’t thought he’d cracked how the hacker was thinking. He’d give it to them – they were smart enough to have made this a real challenge – but sadly, also crazier than a bag of cats. 

So, yeah. The only thing to do was shut down the system completely, and restart it with a new security system patch in place. He’d been able to put it together on a laptop he’d isolated from the island systems so he was confident the hacker hadn’t seen what he was doing, and wouldn’t be able to find a way around it. Simple enough, right?

There were only two drawbacks to the plan: the hacker was bound to try again once the systems were back up; and in order to shut down the system, Tony would have to shut off the power. Completely. Leaving him outside and alone in a Park where the security fences had all been turned off. 

He tapped his teeth, running through the possibilities in his head. The chances were he’d be completely safe. It would only take five, maybe ten minutes to shut down the power and run back to the compound to reboot the system. The animals had grown up with the electrified fences – what were the chances they were going to notice the fences were down in that timeframe? It’d be _fine_ – and even if the hacker tried again, well, Tony was going to use the window of opportunity after the new security system came online to hunt the hacker down and extract him from whichever corner of the island he had holed himself up in. 

But if he was going to be running round, outside, with the security systems all down, Tony wanted to be sure as hell that the noises he could hear outside the compound weren’t a precursor to something… worse. 

“You able to hold the fort, JARVIS?” He glanced at the window; he could still see the sheets of rain, illuminated against the night by the lights of the compound, and, in the east, the faintest fingers of dawn light. 

“Indeed, sir. You intend to do the reboot now?”

“Not yet. The patch is compiling and I want to test it before we put it online. I think I can make it more secure, and it makes sense to wait for daylight.” He frowned. “Or full dawn at least. No.” The cry of a Raptor split the night. “I think I need to go see Loki now.”

One thing about the island was that it got light early. Steve had woken up maybe ten minutes before dawn, and he reckoned it was about five in the morning. Next to him, Clint and Natasha were still asleep, Natasha resting in the curve of Clint’s body.

As if Steve’s gaze had been a touch, Clint blinked awake and looked round. 

“We made it through the night, then.” He kept his voice low, but Natasha blinked awake instantly.

“I can’t believe we didn’t keep a look out,” she said, an edge of annoyance in her tone. 

“Eh, it was dark, and it worked out okay. Anyway,” Clint replied, raising Stark’s binoculars to his eyes, “these say that we’re in one of the herbivore pens, and since we’re not wearing green, we’re not likely to be eaten by anything.”

“I knew we were out of the Rex enclosure,” Steve said. “And I figured that they’d be the only carnivores big enough to reach us up here.” He shrugged. “Frankly, I thought it would be better if we were all rested for today.”

She didn’t look impressed, and huffed out a breath as she scanned their surroundings. 

“No point in pushing our luck,” she said. “Let’s get going.”

They dropped from the tree and started to make their way through the densely wooded pen. Steve felt preternaturally aware of his surroundings; every bird cry or movement of leaves in the breeze drew his eye.

“Exhausting, isn’t it?” Clint said in an undertone, and Steve nodded. 

“Last time I felt like this was on the battlefield,” he said, trying to shut his memory to the pictures that wanted to flood in. 

“We’re not though,” Natasha said, tossing him a feral grin over her shoulder. “Think of this as a walk in the park.” Something bright and sharp flashed in her hand and she cut her way through a tangle of vines blocking their path, but Steve could take little comfort from her words. 

His unit… his _team_ used to have a similar attitude. God, there had been nothing that could get the Howling Commandos down when they were on the warpath, and he could almost hear Bucky now, mocking at the dangers waiting for them as they landed for an extraction mission… 

Steve shook his head and refocused his attention on the present. If there was one thing the Commandos had taught him, it was that you couldn’t afford to let your guard down for a second. Good men died that way, and Steve would be damned if he lost anyone else.

The compound was nearly deserted; the only living soul Tony saw on the way out was Thor, sitting in the dimly lit canteen area and staring, dully, at a Poptart.

“You okay there, Point Break?” Tony asked. Yeah, he was in a hurry, but the guy looked so _forlorn_ that Tony didn’t have it in himself to ignore him.

Thor looked up, and seemed to shake his despondency from him – looking for all the world like a golden retriever shaking itself free of lake water. 

“I am,” he said. “Though I am worried for our comrades who are lost in the Park, of course, and for the son of Coul who is gravely injured by all accounts.” He glanced around. “I mislike this waiting. It puts me in mind of other nights, too like this one for comfort.” 

“Well, it’s nearly dawn,” Tony said. “And the waiting is almost over, but for now, would you like to come with me? I am going to check on the Raptors.” 

Thor rose. “I will,” he said. “Though I confess, I have no fondness for the animals. T’was my brother who always felt kinship with them when we were students.” His brows pulled together as his face darkened in a frown. “For what good that did him.” 

“Yeah?” It was only years of making polite conversation at cocktail parties that allowed Tony to continue. “What happened?”

“Tis something of a saga,” Thor said. “A long story for a quiet night, but this is not the moment for tales of betrayal.” 

Tony raised his eyebrow, his interest piqued despite himself. “We can walk and talk,” he said, pushing open the door and wincing as the cold air hit him – and the sound of the Raptors screeching in the bleak dawn light. “Anything to drown that out.”

Thor nodded. “Something has unsettled them, no doubt. They do not usually speak like this aside from when they are hunting. You said there was a keeper?”

“Yeah. Somewhere round here. Odd guy, but knows his stuff.” He caught Thor’s arm. “What d’you mean “speak”?”

“Tis self-evident, surely?” Thor said. “The Raptors are speaking as surely as you and I are right now. I would wager that their keeper understands their calls – I have knowledge enough to know they are excited but I lack a nuanced understanding. My brother could have told you in a heartbeat – he loved animals such of these so greatly that he turned to palaeontology and paleoethology for inspiration and Raptor intelligence was the subject of his postdoctoral work.” 

Tony listened. The echoing noises did sound like call and answer – and more than that, with Thor’s words in his mind, they did sound like a conversation. He shivered. Whatever they were saying, it was nothing that was friendly to humans. 

“So,” he said, more to break the tension than because he wanted to know. “What happened with your brother?” 

“My brother and I studied together,” Thor said, his face dark. “But he felt that our supervisor favoured me, and after I was offered a post-doctoral fellowship, he cut his ties with the university and with me.” He frowned at the mid-distance. “The last I heard of him, he had published an article examining the military application of cross-species communication. But his bitterness showed too clearly in his writing, and the scientific community started to view him as a risk. He defended himself – but there were threats made, words on a forum taken out of context, and he was to all intents exiled from academia.”

“Nice,” Tony said, but a horrible suspicion was taking shape in his mind. “What’s he doing now?”

Thor sighed. “Sadly, I do not know. Tis something I never thought could happen, but Loki and I are estranged now. Our father took umbrage at what happened, and harsh words were said on both sides, and I neither know where he is, nor what he is doing.” 

The name was unusual – and familiar and Tony felt some of his suspicions coalesce. “I can probably help with that,” he said, his voice grim. “He’s been working for me for the past eight months. As the Raptor keeper.” 

Thor turned to him, surprise writ large on his face. “But that is beneath his talents,” he started, outraged. “Why would he ever take a job like that?” 

“Desperation can prompt some strange decisions,” Tony said, only slightly thinking of his own past. “It could be that he wanted to work with the animals he loved. But…” he paused as a particularly loud scream from a Raptor split the air, “I think we have to consider the possibility that he decided to use this job to do some practical testing of his theories.”

“But…” Thor looked pale. “That would mean…”

“Yeah,” Tony said. “We’re in deep shit now.”

Say what you want, but this far south when dawn broke it broke fast. It wasn’t long before the day was heating up, leaving Steve nostalgic for the lingering chill he had woken up to.

The rain from last night’s storm was evaporating, and the dense foliage seemed to steam gently as they pushed on through the humid air. 

It was around 11am by his best judgement, and they had clambered over (or under. Or through) three fences between the pens when Clint, who’d taken point since the last fence, held up a hand to stop them. 

“I think there’s an animal ahead,” he said, his voice a barely audible whisper. Steve stilled himself as best he could, but next to Natasha’s entirely motionless form he was very aware of the space he took up, and the noises that each tiny movement telegraphed. Clint seemed equally aware and turned round to flash Steve a look of supreme irritation. Steve raised an eyebrow – the most apology he could cram into the smallest movement – and held his breath as Clint gently parted the leaves. 

“What is it?” Natasha murmured, and Clint breathed a sigh of relief. 

“A Pachyrhinosaurus,” he said, peering through the binoculars. “Ugly as fuck, but a herbivore and probably not much of a risk to us if we keep out of its way.”

“We’re still too close for comfort,” Natasha said. “Let’s backtrack a bit so we can make our way around.”

“Agreed,” Steve said. “It’s too big to risk rushing past, and I don’t like the look of the armour on its head.”

Clint chuckled. “Big? That’s only a baby. It’s hardly ten foot yet.”

“A baby?” Steve said, incredulous. “How big do they grow?” 

“I’d say it’s about 26 foot,” Natasha said, her voice urgent. “And on that note, we should move _now_.”

Her eyes were fixed at a spot over Steve’s shoulder, but before he could ask why, _something_ made the most alarming noise, and Clint had turned and leapt into the lowest branches of the nearest tree with all the grace of a circus performer. 

“Mom’s home,” Natasha said, and Steve, sensing movement behind him, swung round, slipping his backpack from his shoulder and swinging it like a makeshift flail. There was a wet smack as it hit a much, much larger Pachyrhinosaurus just below the eye, and he staggered backwards with the force of the impact as the animal bellowed, deep and menacing. 

To his right Natasha was scrambling up the tree to join Clint, but Steve knew he wouldn’t make it to safety that way. Worse, to try would be to draw the animal’s attention to the others, so, grabbing his backpack in both hands, he took off at a dead run, using the bag to push leaves and branches out of his way, like a shield. 

He could hear the beast behind him, its lumbering movements belied by its sheer size, and Steve knew that once it had built up speed it would be unstoppable. It would certainly crush him without a second thought. His only chance was to weave – and to hope that once it had chased him away it would return to its calf – but Steve knew better than to trust his luck. 

Instead he ran, mindless of the discomfort or the whipping braches that cut at him despite the protection of his backpack. He hadn’t had to run like this for years – jogging round the streets of New York was nothing like having to run for your life, not matter what any smart-mouthed chat-show hosts had to say – and the last time he had been chased like this had been on the battlefield, before he had fallen and lost everything he had once held dear in life. 

Despite the pain, and the sting of blood and sweat on his skin, Steve smiled as he ran. They always seemed to forget, those doctors and medics who had so solicitously helped him recover when he woke from the coma, that he had gone to war of his own choice. Not a mascot or some sort of party icon, but a hellraiser and brawler who had fought his way up through poverty and the school of hard knocks, and who chafed at the restraints of his new life. 

Now though, all that was being stripped away, and Steve ran like his life depended on it, the sounds of pursuit still loud behind him, and his blood pounding in his ears. 

He knew the Pachyrhinosaurus was gaining on him. He’d met monsters like this on the battlefield before, and knew the sort of momentum they gained when they were in pursuit of what they thought was an attacker. He kept low, and wove, raggedly, past trees and through bushes, but he didn’t think it was doing much good – the sounds of pursuit only ever seemed to get closer. 

God only knew what Stark had used as breeding stock for these things. Steve was sure that the original dinosaurs would have given up long ago, but hundreds of years of genetic adaption made it likely that whatever Stark had chosen to fill in the DNA gaps was a weaponised animal. And wasn’t _that_ just typical of the man, Steve thought bitterly, thinking he could play with nature for his own amusement and profit. And it was profit…

Caught up in his thoughts, his reactions were a split second slower than normal, and as he plunged through a low bush he was more aware of the Pachyrhinosaurus behind him than what lay ahead. He was moving too fast to stop when the ground dropped sharply away, and all he could do was to cover his head and he slipped and rolled down the steep slope, unable to catch his breath, unable to stop himself, unable to do anything but endure until he landed in a winded and bleeding heap at the base of the slope. 

It took everything he had to even raise his head. Above him, outlined against the sky at the top of the valley, the Pachyrhinosaurus stared down, dispassionate, and bellowed. Steve thought he could see the steam of its breath, and for a moment he thought it would follow him. But it seemed to be satisfied that the threat to the calf had gone from its territory and it turned with a crack of breaking branches, and disappeared from view. 

Steve slumped, the energy he’d borrowed from the adrenaline dissipating in the rush of relief and leaving him cold and sore. He’d rest here, just for a bit, before he tried to find Natasha and Clint. Just five minutes. 

Steve closed his eyes and slept.

They couldn’t find Loki. Oh sure, the few other keepers they could find had seen him, thought he was in the other room, or had just popped out for something, but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t actually find him.

It didn’t confirm any of their suspicions, but it did nothing to ease Tony’s mind either, and, not for the first time, he missed the information that JARVIS would find it so easy to access. But things were far from resolved with JARVIS, and the likelihood of having to reboot him altogether was growing by the hour. The only thing that stopped Tony doing it then and there was the fact it would disable the last security fences that had remained online – and with Loki working against them, he was loath to remove the power to the Velociraptor cage. 

In the end he went back to the control room in the vain hope that he would be able to get the upper hand with the hacker, leaving Thor to look for Loki. He didn’t honestly hold out much hope that either of them would be successful, but anything was better than waiting, helpless. 

He had managed to get the Park’s surveillance back on line, and was just searching the feeds for any sign of Coulson’s team when the sound of scuffling outside interrupted him. 

“Quiet, miscreant!” 

Tony emerged in time to see Thor (and could it have been anyone else? I mean… that bellow was fairly idiosyncratic) pull a struggling man in a headlock down the hall. 

“Hey!” He had to raise his voice considerably for Thor to notice, but when he did he glowered at Tony. “What’s going on?”

“I found this one skulking by the entrance,” Thor said, his normally sunny face, thunderous. “Tis obvious he is in league with my brother. I heard what he did to the Son of Coul.” 

“Hey…” Tony was really alarmed now. “Let’s not overreact, okay? Big guy? Bruce? Is that you?” 

“Yes.” Fortunately Bruce sounded more amused than angry. “It’s me, and I’m not in league with anyone, and I don’t know who his brother is. Do you think you could let me go now?” 

“You’d better do it,” Tony said. “Things might get a little out of hand if you don’t.”

“I am not afraid of him,” Thor said, tightening his hold. “Why should I fear such a puny mortal?”

“Not saying you are,” Tony replied. “But there’s fragile equipment in the lab, and I’d prefer not to have to replace it.” 

Given the look of confusion on Thor’s face, it would take longer than Tony had to explain, so he gently extracted Bruce’s head and linked elbows with Thor to prevent a recurrence. Bruce just rolled his eyes in answer to Tony’s raised eyebrow of enquiry, but even though he was wearing a set of vet’s overalls (for when the animals started oozing) he wasn’t looking… green about the gills at all. 

_The day might not be a complete write off after all,_ Tony thought, and turned his attention to Thor. 

“C’mon,” he said. “This is Bruce. You know? Dr. “Stop playing in the lab I’m doing science” Banner? Why would you think he was working with Loki?”

“Loki?” Bruce sounded puzzled. “Laufeyson? The Raptor keeper? Wait… He’s Thor’s brother? Why would anyone be in league with the Raptor keeper?”

“Long story,” Tony said. “We think he’s the hacker who’s attacked JARVIS, or working with the hacker anyway. And he’s probably communicating with the Raptors, which makes our death by vicious, flesh-eating lizard a horrible possibility. And we can’t find him. Huh.” He looked at Bruce’s dumbfounded expression. “I was wrong. It’s not a long story at all.” 

“Oh,” Bruce said. “Well, that’s something.” He looked at Thor. “But why would you think I would be working with him?”

“You were sneaking,” Thor said. “I saw you make your way through the buildings, and you seemed most anxious to avoid detection.”

“I was naked,” Bruce said, “and looking for clothes. That didn’t seem strange to you?”

Thor shrugged. “I forget that you Americans seem to find the human form offensive. Were we in…”

“Well, we’re not,” Tony said, shaking his head as if that would help to get rid of the image of a naked Thor facing down a T. Rex. “And now you know why Bruce was “sneaking” so we’re good, right?”

He didn’t wait for them to agree – years of dealing with boards of directors had taught him very little except that people would use any opportunity to argue that you gave them. Pepper had called it “innate arrogance” when she’d given him the sorry-but-this-will-never-work talk, but Tony had always been fonder of getting things done than he was about talking about them. 

So, he headed back to his lab, not bothering to check if the others were coming, and only smiling slightly to himself when he heard footsteps and subdued squabbling following him. 

Things still looked grim, sure. They needed to find Loki, get JARVIS back online, work out where the hell Phil’s ducklings were, and fix Phil himself – and that wasn’t even considering the added complication of giant flesh-eating lizards – but with Bruce back, and Thor’s knowledge of his sibling, Tony was feeling a little more positive about their chances.

There was only a tiny moment of disorientation when Steve woke up before he was on his feet, fully awake and furious with himself for having slept.

It hadn’t been for long – the light was nearly the same, so maybe 20? 30 minutes? – but even that was too long in battle situations when there was no one to watch his back. 

At least, he thought, stretching his spine until it popped, the serum meant he had healed while he slept. The bruises he’d sustained falling down the slope were a shadow of their former glory, and the scratches and cuts from the branches were completely gone. 

He squared his shoulders. Now all he had to do was to find Clint and Natasha again, manage to avoid any more angry dinosaurs, and get back to the base camp where he was very much looking forward to having a few carefully chosen words with Tony Stark about the stupidity of this whole project. He might even go so far as to add gestures to the words he would use. 

Picturing that gave him a vicious, bone-deep pleasure and he was smiling as he started up the slope, using the pattern of destruction from his fall to retrace his steps. 

He was only halfway up the slope when something stung his ear. He caught it on the rebound and saw a small chip of bark. Smiling, he anticipated the next chip and caught it before it hit him, using its trajectory to track back to where Clint was grinning in the lowest branches of a tree with Natasha looking only moderately amused at his side. 

He gestured to the tree, wondering if he should climb up with them, but Clint shook his head and swung himself down, landing lightly and yet still sounding like an elephant in comparison to Natasha.

“You survived then?” he said, grinning at Steve. 

“You didn’t think I would?” Steve said. 

“The day’s still young,” Natasha said. “There are plenty more ways to die yet.”

“You know,” Clint said. “You really know how to bring a guy down.”

“Yes,” she replied, her face deadpan. “It’s my superpower, Barton.”

“She has a point.” Steve scanned the valley for any sign of movement. “We need to get back to base camp, and we have no idea what’s between us and the edge of the Park.” He slung his backpack over his shoulder. “And I gotta admit that I’d feel a lot more comfortable if we were armed.”

“We are armed,” Clint said.

“We were armed.” Natasha frowned at him. “Until someone used all the ammo shooting at an armoured dinosaur that Steve was able to outrun anyway.”

Clint grunted and pulled a load of twigs out of his backpack. The ends had been sharpened until they resembled arrows. Natasha sighed. 

“Yes, well done, but a half dozen bits of sharpened wood aren’t going to do much against some of the large carnivores.”

“Hey.” Clint shoved her lightly. “These have saved my life on more than one battlefield, you know. Don’t be so snooty.” He looked around them. “We might be grateful of them yet.” 

“We might,” Steve said. “But there’s precious few of them, and I don’t want to trust our luck.” He squared his shoulders. “We need to get moving, and I vote we head down the valley.”

“Agreed,” Natasha said. “If I’m judging correctly, that should cut straight across the Park, and leave out some of the loops we travelled on the way here.” 

They set off in moderately good spirits. The tall trees provided dappled shade against the sun, protecting them from the worst of the day’s heat. They didn’t see any more of the Pachyrhinosaurus, though midway through the morning Natasha spotted a lizard-like creature watching them through disproportionately large eyes from the comfort of a log. 

“Compsognathus,” Clint said. “A small one at that.” 

“Are they dangerous?” Steve asked. Clint snorted. 

“Everything is dangerous, Steve, though you’re probably safe from these unless you are smaller than them.”

The dinosaur vanished off the log, uncannily fast, and Steve repressed a shiver. He’d seen how something as small as this could be engineered to be a fearsome foe on the battlefield – especially if they were bred to act as a pack. He could only hope that Stark had been truthful when he said his development of these animals was to recreate the originals and not to weaponise them. 

“Let’s get going again,” he said, eyes fixed on the log and listening for the sound of movement. “I’ll be happier when we’re outside of the Park.”

Sadly, any feelings of positivity that Tony had harboured evaporated as the day went on.

Knowing who was behind the attack didn’t help stop it, and Tony was running out of ideas. It seemed the only option would be to reboot the system, and even then it would still be vulnerable to the attack, so could be a temporary reprieve at best. 

Tony had hoped that Bruce would be able to help him see a solution, but by midday even Bruce threw his hands up in the air and declared defeat. 

“The problem is that we need to be able to block his entry to the network,” Bruce said, running his hand through his hair. “But he can see everything we do, so there’s no element of surprise.”

“Yeah.” Tony huffed out a breath and snagged the pack of blueberries from the desk. “Even if we could block him for an hour or two, I would be able to install something that would lock him out permanently, but if he sees what I am doing then we lose even that chance.”

He passed the blueberries to Bruce, and chewed, his brain running round in circles. 

“Tis a shame,” Thor said, “that we cannot bring the battle to his door.”

“How do you mean?” Bruce sounded out of patience, and Tony could hardly blame him. 

“He makes a mockery of your defences,” Thor replied. “But I wager he would not have the time to do so, if you were to launch an attack on him.”

“He has a point,” Tony said, hope dawning. “Whoever’s doing this has to be attached to the network to sustain the attack, and that’s a link that goes both ways.”

Bruce nodded. “Even if it didn’t do anything else it would distract his attention,” he said, and Tony grinned, bouncing out of his chair and kissing Bruce on the head.

“And this is why you’re my favourite, Banner.” He dashed to the whiteboard, ideas ready to spill from his fingers at last. “I’ve written a patch that would lock the hacker out, but it wouldn’t take much more to write something to properly secure the system. And my laptop isn’t attached to the network, so if you distract him by taking the fight to his door, I could reboot the system and introduce the code that will lock him out and he’d never see it coming. Genius.” He sighed happily. 

“Obviously.”

Tony turned on Bruce. “You doubt me? I’m hurt.” He feigned a swoon. Thor chuckled and even the edges of Bruce’s lips quirked up indulgently. 

“I don’t doubt your genius, Tony,” he said. “But there are a lot of variables here, and rebooting the system is hardly a risk-free option.” He frowned. “Especially with the others still out there.”

“I know.” Tony forced his excitement down and smiled slightly at Bruce. “But what other chance do we have?” 

Bruce huffed in exasperation and shrugged. “We don’t,” he said. 

“Well, then,” Tony said. “We need to put on our big girl panties and face the music. You in, blondie?”

“Aye,” Thor said. “Tis difficult to see what other option we might pursue, and I know my brother too well to hope he will abandon his quest.”

“Bruce?” Tony asked. “How about you?”

Bruce nodded. “Sure,” he said. “In any case nothing that can happen now will be even half as bad as what Pepper will do to you when she finds out what you just said.”

“Huh,” Clint said as they trekked onwards. “You’d never think that walking through a dinosaur park could be boring, would you?”

Natasha snorted and Steve hummed with disapproval. 

“Don’t jinx us, Barton,” he said. “If the option is being chased by Rex or sentient tanks, I would prefer a little bit of boredom.”

“Point.” They walked in silence for a bit longer. “Do you think we’ll get out of the woods soon though? I remember that there were some open paddocks just inside the fence, so if we got to those we’d know we were almost there.”

“Should do,” Tasha said. “These trees are not the sort that thrive in dense woodland so I’d expect we’re getting to the edge.” 

“That’s something,” Steve said. “We could get across the open paddocks in less than no time.”

“And we won’t have any cover while we’re doing it,” Natasha replied. 

“Have I ever told you how grating your pragmatism is, Romanov?” Clint asked and Tasha snorted.

“Many times,” she said. “Yet not as often as it’s saved your ass, Barton.”

Clint ignored this. “The problem with arguing with this one,” he told Steve. “Is that she’s invariably right, has a long memory, and doesn’t understand that sometimes you should let other people win an argument.” 

“Ptenchik,” she reached round Steve to put her hand on Clint’s arm. “If I just _let_ you win arguments, then how would you ever learn?”

Clint stared at her, his face stony. “See?” he said to Steve. “She sounds reasonable but you always lose. She’s like a mistress of some dark art.”

“It’s called being a woman.”

“There’s no answer to that,” Steve said. “I’d leave it there, soldier.”

Clint grinned. “Aw, Steevie.” He punched Steve gently in the arm. “You should know me better than that by now.”

“Guys?” Natasha had halted, her arm out to stop them. “I think we’ve reached the edge of the woods.”

She was right – the trees thinned out ahead of them until they reached the edge of a meadow. Beyond that there were fields, rolling away as far as the eye could see. 

“So,” Clint said. “All we have to do is get across there, climb the fence, and get back to the centre.” He grinned at them. “Piece of cake.” 

Natasha sniggered, and even Steve found himself smiling. “It’s very exposed,” he said. “Do you think there are any carnivores out there?”

“There shouldn’t be,” Natasha said. “Stark said that the pens were designed to keep them apart, and this looks like grazing land for herbivores.” 

The sound of an enraged roar drifted across the fields, and a small dinosaur that had been lurking unnoticed at the edge of the wood scampered past them to the safety of the thicker trees. 

“On the other hand,” she continued, her mouth thinning to a line, “it might be safe to assume that the fences between the enclosures have been affected by whatever is going on.”

“Well,” Steve said, slinging his backpack more firmly across his shoulders. “At least no one will have a chance to complain of boredom, eh, Barton?” 

“I resent that remark,” Clint said, haughtily. “Right, we’re burning daylight here. Shall we?” 

They kept close together, using whatever sparse cover was available. 

Although the fields were fairly open, there were occasional clusters of bushes and shrubs, and some trees dotted seemingly at random. It made progress a bit easier, and to begin with they saw nothing more than some herbivores grazing in the distance.

Steve still didn’t like it though. He didn’t trust the quiet, and he couldn’t forget the sound of the bellow they had heard from the woods. 

The sense of unease increased as they scrambled up a shallow hill, the sun now beating down on the back of their necks. They stopped at the top of the hill and surveyed the vista before them. 

A herd of herbivores were running across the plain below them – huge animals, about ten metres long, with curved horns? Snouts? Steve wasn’t sure. 

“Parasaurolophus,” Clint said, his voice sounding awed. “They’re beautiful.”

Steve nodded, because they _were_. For all their size they were fleet and strong, and the herd seemed to move like a single organism. 

He stared at the shifting pattern of their movement as an idea started to take shape in his mind. 

“Guys,” he said. “I know this is going to sound mad, but how would you like to get back to headquarters a bit quicker?”

Tony was in the zone. Now that Bruce had freed him up to concentrate, the whole situation had shrunk to the problem he was facing and the fact that he had the skills to solve it.

Frankly it was a buzz. 

In the background he could hear Bruce’s sarcastic commentary, and Thor’s slightly confused responses. This was probably good. Bruce had a tendency to go quiet when things were going wrong, and the smirk that twisted his lips most likely meant that he was scoring some hits against Loki. Tony let him get on with it. 

His smile got wider and wider as he worked. It wasn’t commendable – wasn’t even something he could admit to most people – but Tony had always loved outwitting a deadline. 

Now he knew it was there, the code that Loki had exploited to breach the security seemed painfully obvious. Fixing it didn’t take long – and nor did putting in additional security measures. No matter what happened after this, the systems would be as good as impenetrable. 

His only concern was that he had needed to rewrite the code that controlled the security fences in order to make the system properly impenetrable. It wasn’t ideal – for a start it would mean that the fences would be offline for as long as it took for the new security systems to install – but there was no way around it. 

He could have cursed himself for the mistake he’d made in the initial version. There was no reason for it – no reason other than the arrogant presumption that no one would even think of attacking his code. He smiled grimly as his fingers flew over the keyboard. That, and the fact that he’d never considered that anyone would want to stage an attack like this on an amusement park. 

He still wasn’t sure why Loki was attacking – though he could hazard a guess. For all Thor’s words about Loki’s thwarted academic ambitions and love of these animals, they would make an impressive price if they were sold as weapons. The Raptors particularly would be the kind of thing that featured in the wet dreams of death-dealers around the world, and once the biotech had left the island it would be out of Tony’s control… A nightmare scenario and one that he had thought he’d escaped until this had happened. 

The fix was 90% done when Bruce whooped. 

“You all right there?” Tony asked, reluctantly dragging his attention away from the lines of code in front of him. “Big Guy? Anything I should know about?”

Bruce looked up, his mouth twisted in a grin. “We’ve got him,” he said. “Not that he knows it yet, but we’re in.”

“Go you!” Tony pushed his chair across the floor so he could punch Bruce in the shoulder. “Though I gotta ask why you bothered.” 

Bruce looked at him like he was stupid. “So I can hijack the camera on the device he’s using and find out where the fuck he is, of course.”

“Ah,” Tony said, feeling slightly stupid just then. “Good idea. I thought you’d put some tracking software on there or something.”

“Yeah.” Bruce grinned again, smug that he’d obviously thought this through before Tony. For once. Even though Tony had been _concentrating_. “Doing that as well. But I thought it would make sense to see what he’s surrounded himself with.”

Tony nodded. “Makes sense,” he said. “I should be done with the patch in the next few minutes, so we can…” He broke off as he caught the look on Bruce and Thor’s faces. “Guys? What is it? Have you found him?”

Bruce nodded, his lips pressed together in a thin line and all traces of his earlier good humour wiped away. 

Tony was out of his chair and behind them before they could say anything, blinking a few times to make sense of what he was seeing on the screen. 

“Shit,” he said, when the images clicked into focus. “Shit.”

The hacker was Loki, right enough, and from what they could see through the webcam, he was in the cage with the Raptors.

Clint was hollering like a cowboy; Natasha was glaring at him; the dinosaurs were a lot bigger close to; and Steve was wishing he had never suggested riding them back to the fence.

“Sorry,” he said, shrugging. “It seemed like such a good idea at the time.”

Natasha nodded, but didn’t say anything and certainly didn’t stop glaring. 

“We don’t have to do it,” he said. “We could always just walk?”

“And you’d tell _him_ that?” She gestured towards Clint, who was poised on a largish boulder and testing the weight of the rope that had been lurking, almost forgotten in the back of Steve’s backpack in his hands. He had, Steve couldn’t help but notice, knotted it into a lasso. 

“No,” Steve said. “So, we’re agreed then?”

“That we have to do this?” Natasha looked resolute. “Yeah. What can go wrong?” 

He just looked at her and she grinned, punching him in the arm. “It was your idea,” she said. “So come on and catch yourself a dinosaur.” 

In any logical world that would be easier said than done, but in any logical world this would not be Steve’s life. So he was only marginally surprised when they managed to shin up onto the animals with relative ease. 

It was nothing like riding a horse. They were more unpredictable, and the fact they ran on two legs, and used their tails to turn as they moved, made them oddly alien. But, hell, Steve had ridden worse. In fact, the closest thing he could think of was…

“It’s like riding an ostrich!” Clint’s voice wobbled as the Parasaurolophus he was on sped up. “I mean – just like it.”

“I don’t even want to know,” Steve said, gripping on as best he could with his thighs and wrapping his hands round the creature’s neck. 

“Budapest,” Natasha said, speeding past. Unlikely as it was, she seemed to be able to steer her dinosaur. 

Steve shook his head. “I keep hearing rumours about Budapest,” he said, adjusting his balance to remain upright. “And I call bullshit.”

Natasha just grinned at him, and Steve struggled to steer his dinosaur like she did. He had no idea how she made it look so effortless. 

At least the Parasaurolophus moved as a herd, and although they’d been spooked initially, they now seemed to be tolerating their riders. After so many miles of walking it was a relief to be moving at speed, and within minutes Steve could see the perimeter fence against the horizon in the distance. 

He smiled. At the rate the dinosaurs were moving they would reach it in no time – or close to it anyway. But the herd suddenly swerved, almost doubling back on themselves, and Steve shouted with frustration, trying to turn his Parasaurolophus with his body-weight and force of will. 

It didn’t work. He only succeeded in making the animal stumble, and, unable to catch his balance, he fell off its back and rolled, covering his head to avoid the pounding feet of the herd as they milled around him. 

He could see the animal he’d been riding. It had been hit by another dinosaur, knocking it to its side, and Steve rose to a crouch, intending to catch it and ride it again. 

He didn’t get the chance.

Before he could move there was the roar of an enraged carnivore, and a giant head snapped down at the Parasaurolophus, catching it by the neck and tossing it into the air like a kitten. It was dead before it hit the ground – Steve heard the snap as its neck broke, and he ran, using the last of the herd as cover. 

He flung himself onto one of the stragglers, hoping that by riding the herd they would escape the carnivore’s detection. He didn’t dare spend any time looking back, but the quick glance he’d had suggested that it was one of the Rex – probably the adult female judging from its size. 

Whichever one it was, it was revelling in the opportunity to hunt and had abandoned its kill where it had fallen. It roared again and started running towards the herd, and if Steve had ever wanted to know what it felt like to be part of a shoal under attack… well. This would have answered all his questions. 

The animals moved in a surging wave like they had one mind, one goal, and all Steve could do was to cling on and hope against hope that they’d survive this. 

“It’s not going to stop.” Natasha’s voice came as a shock, and when Steve looked to his right he saw that the movement of the herd had thrown them together. 

“What do you mean?” he asked, casting round to look for Clint as well.

“I mean that Stark has denied the animals their biological imperative,” Natasha shouted. “They can’t mate, they can’t hunt, and now the controls are gone…” Her mouth narrowed in a wholly mirthless smile. “All bets are off.”

“We need to take it down,” Steve shouted back, only making the decision as the words left his mouth. “If it won’t stop by itself, and we can’t get to the perimeter with it here then…”

“Agreed.” She looked beyond Steve. “Barton!”

Steve could see Clint now, further away than Natasha was, but still close enough to hear her shout. 

“Throw me some arrows,” she said, and Clint grinned. 

“I told you,” he said as he pulled out about six of the wooden sticks and balanced their weight in his hand. “I said you’d be grateful for them.”

“Da,” she said. “You were right. I will be sure to mark the day in red in my diary if we live through this.”

He laughed, pulling his t-shirt off and using it to tie the arrows together. “It’ll take more than this to get us, Tash,” he said as he threw the bundle at her, smiling as she caught it neatly. “I’m not even a bit worried.” 

“Fool,” she said, but Steve was close enough to hear the fondness in her voice, and he smiled at her, before she leapt from her dinosaur, rolling as she hit the ground, and running towards the Rex. 

It seemed to be shocked, and faltered, only slightly, but enough to make it pause and allowing Natasha to vault onto a large rock and from there, almost effortlessly onto the Rex’s neck. 

He saw her raise her arm above her head, an arrow clenched in her fist, before she drove it down, and even from this distance he could hear her grunt of effort before it was eclipsed as the Rex _bellowed_. 

“She’s got its attention,” Steve shouted at Clint. “Let’s bring it down, yeah?”

Clint just grinned in response and dropped from his animal with a grace that Steve truly envied. His own dismount was crashing and almost knocked the breath from him, but he didn’t pause to recover, just set off at a flat-out run towards where the Rex was twisting from side to side in an attempt to dislodge Natasha from its back. 

She was firmly anchored though – the arrow had pierced the Rex’s neck at the base of its skull, and she was using that and her formidable strength to cling on. 

The Rex was clearly confused and in pain, and Steve flung himself through the air, hitting it in the knee with both feet and his full body weight. 

The Rex bellowed, and there was the snap of bone as something in its leg gave making it stagger to the side, suddenly unable to maintain its balance. Steve clambered back to his feet and put everything he had into a roundhouse kick that caught the Rex in its wounded knee and sent it crashing to the ground. 

Steve scrambled back, trying to avoid the animal’s lashing limbs. Natasha was still clinging to its neck, another arrow clenched in her fist and a look of feral determination on her face, but it was Clint who finished everything by thrusting an arrow through the Rex’s eye and into its brain. 

He didn’t stop to check that he’d succeeded, just turned and ran as fast as he could towards Steve, Natasha hot on his heels. 

“They’ll be together,” he panted as he got close enough for Steve to hear. “The Rex. Or not far apart anyway. We need to get out of here.”

Steve nodded and started running too, and even through the adrenaline and fear he couldn’t help laughing at the expression on Clint’s face as he tried to run and scrape the worst of the viscera from his arm. 

“Arrows are better from a distance,” he said, catching Steve’s smile. “Tasha, can I at least have my shirt back?”

Natasha pulled the last of the “arrows” from the knot of the t-shirt and flung it at him. Clint grinned and pulled it on – surefooted and fleet even when it was over his eyes. 

In the distance Steve could see the Parasaurolophus herd, grazing now the threat had passed, and beyond them…

“Come on,” he said. “I can see the perimeter fence. Let’s get back to base.”

Tony had finished the code – finished, tested, approved.

Unfortunately it seemed that was now the least of their problems. 

“I mean,” Tony was gesticulating and warming to the theme. “What the actual fucking fuck? Is he completely bat-shit insane?”

Bruce raised his eyebrows and did something complicated with his mouth, but Thor frowned. 

“Have a care,” he said to Tony, his expression serious. “You may not approve of his methods, but he is still my brother.”

“He’s brought the island to its knees! He nearly killed Coulson! He’s in the fucking Raptor cage!” Tony flailed his hands, unable to express all the feelings he was having. “What part of that is in _any way sane_?”

Thor took a step backwards in the face of Tony’s rage. 

“I agree,” he said at length. “Loki is troubled, but he must have some reason for this.”

“Well,” Tony said, turning back to his laptop with a snarl. “Maybe when we manage to see him, he will be kind enough to explain what that is to us.” 

“Mayhap,” Thor said, and Tony shook his head as he typed. 

“Could you get us some coffee?” Bruce was, as always, the voice of reason, and Tony smiled at him as Thor left the room. 

“Thanks,” he said. “I’m sure his heart is in the right place but…”

“He talks like a bad Harlequin Romance.”

“Yeah.”

Tony tapped at the code a bit, even though it was as ready as it was going to get. 

“We’re going to have to break into the Raptor cage, aren’t we?” Bruce’s voice was aggressively neutral, and when Tony glanced over his attention was focussed on the screen in front of him. 

“Probably,” Tony said, knowing that Bruce would understand what he was admitting. “We need to get him out anyway, and we’ll need to distract the Raptors while we’re doing it.”

“I thought as much,” Bruce said. “So, I’ll stay here and bring the systems online while you do that then, will I?” He laughed at Tony’s expression. “I know. This is a job for the Other Guy.”

“It’d help,” Tony said, grinning. He loved these flashes of Bruce’s humour. “Though you’re right. It’d be good to coordinate the system relaunch with getting into the Raptor cage. If he’s fighting on two fronts…”

“We’ll have a better chance of beating him.”

Tony nodded. “It’d be better if we had more bodies to throw at this.” He glanced at Bruce and blanched when he saw his expression. “The others will be back soon though. They’re probably just enjoying a lazy walk in the sunshine.” 

“Yeah.” Bruce looked at his hands, and Tony moved towards him, not sure what he could say or do to make this any better. 

“Seriously,” he said. “They’ll be back any minute now. Mark my words.”

Steve looked up at the fence, then looked up further.

“We’re sure it’s not electrified at the moment?” he asked. 

Beside him Natasha nodded. “I think so.” She paused. “It’s not humming in any case.” 

Clint shrugged. “Only one way to be sure,” he said, but Natasha caught his elbow as he took a step towards the fence.

“I swear,” she said, her voice deadly serious, “if you pretend to be electrocuted, you will die here on the ground. Understood?”

He laughed and swung himself at the fence, scaling half of it before Steve could sigh with relief. “You know me too well, Tasha.” 

She grinned and started to scramble up after him, and Steve couldn’t postpone it any longer and followed as well as he could. 

He was clumsier and slower than either of them, and by the time he’d got to the top they were safely on the far side of the fence grinning up at him. 

“C’mon,” Clint shouted up. “The centre is only five minutes from here, and there’s a burger with my name on it.”

Steve sighed and started climbing down the fence. Food sounded good, and a bed with four walls around it. Mostly though, getting back to base meant seeing Tony Stark again – and getting to share his feedback about the Park.

A grim smile on his lips, he dropped the last few feet to the ground and joined the others as they walked back to base.


	3. Chapter 3

“It’s not that I was expecting a welcoming committee,” Clint said as they pushed the centre doors open, “but this is creepy as fuck.”

Steve nodded. He hadn’t expected to find the place deserted, and after the chorus of Raptors’ barks and shrieks that that accompanied them from the fence, his nerves were on edge. 

“Keep your voice down,” he said. “We know there was an attack on the system, but we have no idea if that’s resolved yet.” He looked round at the eerily quiet centre. “And we don’t know if the animals are still all contained in their cages.” 

“Good point,” Clint said. “Terrible, horrible, good point.” He glanced at Natasha. “How many weapons do you have in your luggage?”

“Enough,” she said, a small smile on her face. “But where do you think the luggage is?”

“Reception desk,” Steve said. “Stark had it left there when we first got here.” He blushed under the combined scrutiny. “He said something about wanting to show us round and dealing with that later and…” He felt the blush spread. “And, stop judging me just because I pay attention, okay?”

He shuffled his feet as Clint sniggered, but felt smugly vindicated when they found that, yes, their bags were stacked neatly behind the reception desk. 

“Yes.” Clint looked like he was on the verge of a religious experience as he opened up his bag. “Come to daddy, girls.”

“Sometimes,” Natasha said, taking out a series of guns from her bag and checking the ammo, “you disturb me, Barton.”

“Only sometimes?” Clint turned to them and grinned, a quiver of arrows strapped to his back, a bow in his one hand, and his other hand tucking knives into various pockets. “You’re not paying attention then, Tash.” 

Steve didn’t have anything like the same range of weaponry in his bag – but he had enough to make him feel more comfortable and at least he’d brought his…

“Is that a shield?” Clint asked, interest perking his voice. “Seriously?” 

“Pssht.” Natasha was rummaging in her own bag. “You’ve no room to criticise anyone else’s dubious weaponry choices, Barton.”

“I wasn’t _criticising_ ,” he said, making a show of stroking the bow. “I was _interested_. There’s a difference you know.” 

“Whatever.” Natasha narrowed her eyes and looked round the entrance hall. “We need to find out where everyone is.”

“Is it best to split up to look?” Steve asked and Clint gave him a look of incredulous horror. 

“Have you ever seen a horror film? Do you want us all to die?”

Natasha grunted. “I hate to admit it, but he has a point. We have no idea who or what is going to be here – or whose side they’ll be on.”

“Point taken.” Steve squared his shoulders. “Where shall we start then?”

“Stark’s bound to have a workspace,” Clint said. “I mean, there’s no way he’ll want to share a lab with his paid science-monkeys. I vote we start there.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Steve said. “And do you have any idea where that would be?”

“Pfffffff.” Clint looked at him in disgust. “Am I meant to come up with the plans as well as the ideas?”

Natasha cuffed him round the back of the head. “Dr. Banner came from over there when we left on the trip.” She gestured to a door on the far side of the hall. “It’s worth starting there?” 

Steve nodded, and gripped his shield tightly. “Right then,” he said. “Let’s do this thing.”

The problem with having been sickly when he was young, Steve often thought, was that he’d read too much. And yes, it had been one of the things that had shaped him into the man that he was today, but, unfortunately, the man he was today had a far too developed imagination.

Steve blamed the books, and cursed librarians everywhere under his breath. 

He took point, forging forward with his shield in place to deflect any attacks. Strangely he felt more ill at ease here than he had been outside. His time in the army had taught him the hard way that the outside was danger – that it was vulnerable to attack from anything, big or small. Some of the most deadly animals that Steve had fought had been the smallest – bioengineering had changed the world like that. But the fact remained, there was something _wrong_ about expecting an attack indoors. 

They checked every door they came to, but apart from a nasty moment in a larger lab, where eggs had been left to hatch unattended and a tiny Triceratops moved feebly under a heat lamp, they found no one. 

“I don’t like this,” Clint said as they came out of the lab. “Not at all. I keep thinking I see things move out of the corner of my eye, but the there’s nothing there.”

“You’re on edge,” Natasha said. “Your brain is filling in the gaps you expect to see. Remember Sierra Leone?” 

Clint shuddered. “I try to forget Sierra Leone,” he said. “And yeah, I guess it is kinda like that.”

“I just wish I knew where Stark is,” Steve said, rounding the next corner. “He’s got to be here somewhere.”

“Friend Steve!” Thor straightened up from where he had been taking candy from a vending machine. “You have arrived!”

“Thor?” Steve found himself clasped in a crushing bear-hug. “What are you doing here?”

“Where else should I be?” Thor stepped back and beamed at Clint and Natasha. “I returned hence from the Park with the keeper of the beasts and the valiant son of Coul.” 

“Phil?” Clint’s attention fixed completely on Thor. “You found Phil’s body?”

“Aye,” Thor said, looking slightly confused. “We found him lying by the side of the road, worn from his great battle.”

Natasha took a step closer to Clint, pressing her side to his. “And what have you done with him?” she asked. 

“I left him in the care of the medics,” Thor said. “They would not let me stay, and Anthony was willing to take me into his counsel to help repair the damage my brother has done to his systems.” 

“Wait. What?” Steve could see a desperate hope dawn in Clint’s eyes. “Phil’s alive?”

“Aye,” Thor said. “His wounds are many and grievous, but the medics told me they believed he was safe. “

“Where is he?” Natasha asked. Clint had slumped to the floor beside her, panting, with his head in his hands. 

“The medical wing is on the second floor,” Thor said. “I can take you there if you wish it?”

“Yes.” Natasha sounded adamant. “As soon as you can.”

“Is Stark there too?” Steve asked as Clint rose to his feet. 

“Nay,” Thor said. “He is but a few steps down this corridor, working on a remedy to my brother’s actions. They sent me to gather them sustenance.” He displayed the handfuls of candy and chips he’d got from the machine, and Steve had an unexpected and unwelcome moment of fellow-feeling with Stark. 

“Show me where they are,” he said, resolving to get Stark to answer the questions he had about Thor’s mention of his brother, “and bring Clint and Natasha to see Phil.”

“With pleasure,” Thor said. “Tis merely that door there.” He gestured to a door slightly down the hall. “Mayhap you could bring these to them?” He thrust the treats at Steve, and turned to the others. “Now, follow me, Lady Natasha and friend Barton. I shall bring you to your destination.”

He led them off, holding forth volubly about how they had found Phil and tended to his wounds. Steve hoped the medical wing was close for Clint’s sake – once his veneer had cracked, Steve had seen all too clearly how desperately he had been holding himself together, and Phil obviously meant a great deal to him. 

It was just another charge to lay at Stark’s door, this pain that Clint had been forced to suffer, and Steve felt his anger rising as he approached the room that Stark had chosen as his base of operations. 

He could hear Stark’s voice as he approached and paused just outside the door. 

“The code is all in place,” he heard Stark say. “So all we need to do is distract Loki for long enough to get it in the system. Once JARVIS is back online, he’ll be able to help get the system watertight and…”

Steve pushed open the door. “And what?” he said, not even trying to keep the hostility from his voice. “Just what have you done here, Stark?”

Stark spun round. “Steve?” Relief flashed over his face and Steve, taken aback, wondered if he might have misjudged Stark. “When did you get back? I mean, seriously, I know the Park’s well designed but I never thought that people would spend their time strolling in it if there was a chance they might be needed to actually help.”

Of course that was all that Stark was interested in – saving his precious park. 

“If you hadn’t built such a shoddy system it would never have left us in the middle of a predator infested wilderness.” He curled his mouth into a sneer. “But why would that matter to you? Look what you did to Dr. Banner. If you could turn a friend into a monster…”

He realised his misstep even before Bruce cleared his throat. 

“I’m going to make a cup of tea,” he said, his mouth a thin line. “I’ll be in the lab workers’ break room if anyone needs me.”

He brushed past Steve on his way out, leaving Steve feeling wretched. Stark watched him go, his mouth white round the edges with supressed fury. 

“Yes,” he said as Bruce gently closed the door behind him. “Why would that matter to me? I mean it’s not as if I was trying to make the world a tiny bit better was it? To show people that bio-engineering could be used to create something beautiful and inspiring as well as weapons. That I would give a scientist who’d made a mistake a second chance. Allow him a space to practice what he loved without being made into a weapon.” He looked at Steve with disgust on his face. “So, please feel free, Jiminy Cricket. Whatever would I do without a smug, self-satisfied meat-head to judge me?”

He paused and raised an eyebrow at Steve.

“No rejoinder?” he asked. “No pithy summary of my many failings?” He sneered as Steve shook his head. “Shame. I was hoping that the Face of American Values could show me the error of my ways.” His lip curled with distaste. “I mean, you must have such a great view from the moral high-ground. No? Well, in that case I’ll get back to solving the problems caused by a premeditated attack from someone who wanted to use my work to make the world a more dangerous place.” He turned back to his laptop – turned his back to Steve. “Feel free to wait in your room. I’m sure you can keep a list of my short-comings from there – there’s probably even writing materials. I’ll send someone up when we have everything fixed.”

“Stark.” Steve’s voice cracked. “Tony. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it to come out like that.”

“Oh no,” Stark said, still tapping away at his keyboard. “I’m sure you didn’t. Just like I’m sure you didn’t mean to insult Bruce.” He shot a look of pure hatred at Steve. “I hope you’ll excuse me if I take that apology with a pinch of salt, but I really am quite busy here and you seem to have got rid of my other help.”

“Let me help you,” Steve said, desperate to repair some of the damage he had done. Okay, so he might have been building up to that rant ever since the Jeeps stopped moving, but he could see the truth of what Stark was saying, and Stark was right. The Park had the potential to change how people saw bio-tech, to make it lucrative to move it off the battlefield, and Steve realised he had to try and help save it. “I know I don’t know much about the science side of what you do, but Thor said something about his brother being involved and I guess you could use some muscle to distract him.” 

Stark stared at him. “He’s holed himself up with the Raptors, so that might be a bit tricky.” 

Steve shrugged. “I’ve faced down worse,” he said. “And maybe one of the others will come with me. We’ve fought a few of your creatures on our walk, so we’ve got the practice.” 

Stark looked at him, distrust in his eyes. “And how do I know you won’t have another change of heart?” he said. “I can’t afford to have anyone I can’t trust working on this.”

Steve sagged down onto a chair. “Jeez, Stark. I don’t know what to say to you.” He rubbed his hand over the back of his head. “I’m sorry, okay? I should never have said that. I guess I was just a bit pissed when you made the dig about strolling in the park.”

“Yeah.” Stark shrugged and sat down opposite Steve. “That was uncalled for.” 

Steve blinked. He hadn’t thought Stark would admit he was wrong. “We all say stupid shit when we’re under pressure.” He smiled, hesitantly. “But it doesn’t mean I don’t respect what you’re doing here, Stark, and no matter what you think of me, I have never, ever deserted a member of my company when they needed me.” 

Stark looked taken aback, but he nodded anyway. “So, you’ll stick round then?” he said. “Even if it gets messy?”

“Stark,” Steve smiled at him, wider and more confident now. “So far this trip I have been nearly eaten, almost crushed, just missed being trampled…”

“ _Nearly_ , _almost_ , _just missed_ …” Stark grinned at him, and Steve realised with a shock that the man was actually _charming_ when he wanted to be. “So, what you’re saying is that nothing’s actually happened to you yet?” 

Steve boggled, unable to respond to this fantastic rewriting of the last twelve hours, and Stark sniggered. “Admit it, Rogers. You’re a wuss.” 

“I’ll admit no such thing!” Steve mock frowned at Stark. “You try running away from the Pachyrhinosaurus you’ve got waiting to attack an unwary walker and then you can call me a wuss.”

Stark winced, his hand drifting to his chest and rubbing a circle in the middle of his breastbone. “I’d rather not,” he said, all trace of levity draining away. “And I’m sorry, Steve. I didn’t design the animals to be weapons, but I guess that it’s in their nature.”

He looked so distressed that Steve leant forward and put his hand on Stark’s knee. “I know, I was in her territory and got too close to her calf. It was just instinct. I know she’s not designed as a weapon.” Stark nodded, but he still looked jittery and he was still rubbing his chest. “Tony, are you okay?”

Tony looked up, snatching his hand away from his chest like he’d been burnt. “Fine,” he said, but then he caught the look on Steve’s face and sagged back in his chair. “Okay. I’m not fine. I’m scared. I’ve got so much resting on this Park, and now it’s all falling apart, and it doesn’t matter that I had good intentions, I may have just handed a new generation of weapons to the world, and I don’t even have Pepper here to help, and…”

“Easy.” Steve tightened his grip on Tony’s knee. “We can fix this. You’ve got a good team here, and nothing’s left the island yet, has it?”

“No.” Tony looked a bit brighter. “You can’t access the outside world through the computer networks here, and there have been no flights or boats leave yet. The storm last night meant that nothing could have reached here yet to allow that.”

“So, we can stop this from becoming a disaster,” Steve said, smiling reassuringly. “You’ve not given the world a new weapon, Tony.”

“I hope not.” Tony rubbed his chest again, then glanced up at Steve. “You know about Afghanistan?” 

“That you were kidnapped?”

Tony nodded. “They wanted me to design them something new, something _game-changing_ , and when I wouldn’t…” He shuddered. “They shut me in with the generation Z prototypes that Russia had come up with.”

“The worms?” Steve was horrified. He’d heard rumours of these, but apparently some animals were too unspeakable to even use in war. Not yet anyway. 

Tony nodded. “They made a mess of me, and I would never have survived if there hadn’t been a surgeon captured with me.”

“Yinsen,” Steve said, and Tony nodded. “I worked with him, about fifteen years ago.”

“You would have.” Tony shrugged. “He was an acquaintance of my father’s, was involved in the field. It was lucky really.” Tony looked at Steve for a second, as if weighing up a decision in his mind, then he shrugged off his t-shirt. 

Steve hissed out a breath. Tony hadn’t been joking – his chest was like something from a nightmare. “Yinsen fixed this?”

Tony nodded. “Managed to engineer me a heart and managed to transplant it. I had reconstructive surgery later, but it was touch and go for a long while.”

Steve looked up sharply as the words registered with him. “But you went back to work,” he said. “Straight away. I remember reading about it in _Time_.”

“Not much choice,” Tony said. “The Board made it quite clear that I took the helm as soon as I got back, or I didn’t take it at all.”

“And your friends didn’t step in?” Steve wasn’t quite able to keep the horror out of his words and Tony smiled at him. 

“C’mon,” he said. “Most of my friends are just along for the ride, they don’t want to hang around if I’m not in a party mood. The ones who would, I can count on the fingers of one hand.”

“And what did they say?” Steve asked, looking at the mass of scar tissue in the centre of Tony’s chest. “Jesus, Tony. Someone must have seen what you were going through.”

“It was fine,” Tony said. “I told them. It was what I needed.” Steve opened his mouth to argue the point, but Tony pulled his t-shirt back on and grinned at him. “Tell you what, next time I have my heart eaten out, you come round and tell me to rest.”

“And you will?”

Tony laughed. “I’ll consider it, specially if you can help me get my Park back online.”

“Well, then.” Steve stood up, pulling a face at Tony. “I guess I got motivation now then, you know, in case avoiding death-by-dinosaur and stopping new battlefield horrors wasn’t enough.” 

That brought a small smile to Tony’s lips. “There you go, soldier,” he said. “We can work with that. Go persuade Bruce you’re not a jerk and I’ll get Goldilocks and the spy-twins, and we’ll see what we can come up with.”

Tony wasn’t sure how Bruce would react to Steve, so he kept an ear open as he trotted up the stairs. He was vaguely reassured that he couldn’t hear any dino-roars behind him, though only vaguely. Bruce was capable of taking care of himself in any form, and he wasn’t as _nice_ as his mild mannered exterior would suggest.

Everything remained quiet though, and it was only when he arrived at the medical centre that he heard the low hum of voices through the door. 

“Phil,” he said, pushing the door open. “How are you enjoying the accommodation at Chez Stark?”

Phil’s face was lined with pain, but he managed to smirk at Tony. “The insect bites suck, but I gotta say the room service is second to none.”

In the corner of the room the Park’s head doctor, a seasoned ER veteran who’d earned his stripes in the armed forces, shook his head in amusement.

“How’s he doing, doc?” Tony asked. “Gonna live to fight another day?”

“I’d say so,” the doctor replied, handing Tony the chart that had been hanging on the bottom of the bed. “Provided he manages to avoid any more excitement in the imminent future.”

“Yeah,” Tony said, raising an eyebrow at Barton, where he was sitting next to Phil. “About that…”

“I guess visiting time is over,” Barton said, pressing a kiss to the corner of Phil’s mouth. “I’ll get back to see you when we’re done.”

“I could help?” Phil said, but the grimace of pain he made when he tried to push himself upright had the doctor rushing over, a hypodermic of the good drugs ready in his hand. 

“Yeah,” Barton said, stroking the hair back from Phil’s face. “That’s about what I thought.” 

“You’ll come back though?” Phil asked, the drugs already taking hold, and Barton smiled.

“Don’t I always?” He let his hand linger on Phil’s cheek, smiled when Phil brushed his fingers with his own. “I’ll be back later, sir. You just take care of yourself till I am.”

If Phil wasn’t asleep when they left the room, he would be shortly, and Tony kept his voice low as they walked back towards the lab. 

“How’s he holding up?” he asked, and it was Natasha who snorted. 

“He’s as bad as Clint,” she said. “You’re lucky your medical staff are quick off the mark because otherwise you’d have had to wrestle him back to bed.”

“Yep,” Barton said, looking obnoxiously smug. “That’s my boy.” 

“It wasn’t a compliment.” She punched him in the arm before turning to Tony. “You have a plan, then?”

Tony nodded. “I think so.” He thought about the variables. “Of course, it relies on Bruce keeping a cool head, me and Steve working together, and Loki not actually being able to control the Raptors.” 

“Basically,” Barton said, his tone conversational, “we’re fucked.”

“Royally screwed,” Tony said, cheerfully. “Worse than that party with the triplets when I was twenty-five.”

Natasha cut him off with a glare. “I do not wish to hear any more.”

“I do though,” Barton said. “You’ve decommissioned my husband for the foreseeable, so do tell, Stark.”

“I tell you what,” Tony said, looking at the expression on Natasha’s face. “If we survive this, I will tell you _everything_.” The flash of years-old memory – all blonde hair and pneumatic breasts – jogged his mind. “Where’s Thor gone?” 

“He wandered off,” Natasha said. “Something about wanting to give the valiant warriors time to get reacquainted.”

Tony could think of a million rejoinders, and he bravely bit them all back. “I’m sure he’ll turn up,” he said when he could control himself. 

He did – when they got back to the lab they found him sitting with Steve and Bruce, and holding forth about his brother. Steve was frowning, and even Bruce looked worried.

“Thor and Bruce have been explaining about Loki,” Steve said, “and about the new security system you’ve written.” He paused, drummed his fingers on the table. “I think you’re right. Taking the fight to Loki is going to make it easier for you to get the code into the system, and will mean that he won’t get a chance to respond until it’s too late.” 

“Glad I got your approval,” Tony said. “That makes all the difference to me.” Steve raised an eyebrow at him, and Tony was glad that the tension between them had diffused. “But you’re forgetting one thing.”

“What?” Steve asked. “What have I missed?”

“The Raptors.” Tony smirked at him. “Loki’s holed up with the most vicious killing machines that we’ve bred here, and as soon as we restart the system to load the new security, the last remnants of the security system will go offline and they’ll be able to get out.”

Steve swallowed. “We’ll have to deal with them,” he said. “I mean, we’d have had to anyway when we distracted Loki, so…”

“Yeah,” Tony said. “That’s great, except there’s a difference between fighting Raptors in a confined space and in having them loose in the Park.” He looked round at everyone. “They hunt like a pack. They’re ruthless and cunning and smarter than most humans you’ve met. Once they get out, we’ll need to be fast or we’re as good as dead.”

“So, we’ll be fast and ruthless as well,” Natasha said, pulling a knife from a sheath and grinning lethally. “It won’t be the first time any of us have fought animals like these.”

Tony looked around. There were five of them, not including Bruce. It would be difficult, but they could do it – even with the added complication of Loki.

“Okay,” he said. “We’ll do this. Bruce,” he pointed. “You need to get to the power station. Once you’ve rebooted the system, you’ll need to restart the power to bring everything back online. You can link the laptop to the system from there and you’ve got the webcam so you should be able to see when Loki’s distracted. Wait till he’s not paying attention before you start – the last thing we need is for him to shut us down before we’ve begun.” Bruce nodded, his shoulders relaxing slightly, and Tony nodded at him. Yeah, of course Bruce was the one he trusted most with the system reboot – but by keeping Bruce in a low stress environment it would decrease the risk of, well, incidents, so it made perfect sense. “Thor, I need you to stay outside the Raptor enclosure in case any of them break free.”

Thor frowned. “You doubt my fighting skills because I am a scientist?”

“No.” Tony hesitated a second, but he was better off telling the truth. “I’m sure you can fight every bit as well as Captain Amazing and the terrible twosome here, but…”

“What he’s trying to say,” Barton said, “is that seeing a face from the past might push Loki into doing something we’ll regret.”

“Or it might make him see reason,” Thor said. “You cannot discount that.”

“Yeah, it could.” Barton looked sceptical. “But I know something about brothers, and Loki ain’t likely to be happy to see you here now.”

Thor looked like he wanted to argue, but Steve cut across him. “What do you want me to do, Stark?”

“You’re taking point with me, and you two,” he pointed at Natasha and Barton, “will provide backup.”

“That works,” Natasha said. “When do we start?” 

“Well,” Tony looked round the room and made eye contact with everyone in turn. “There’s no time like the present.”

It wasn’t that quick, of course.

It seemed to Steve that Tony could shape the world with his words and his will, but even that drive didn’t speed up the process of finding radios or stocking up on weapons and ammo. 

Still, it was barely thirty minutes later when they were all stood, armed for bear (or Raptor. At least Steve _hoped_ they were armed for Raptor) outside the enclosure. 

“Ready?” Tony asked, and Steve nodded. 

Thor fell back into the trees that bordered the loading area, and Natasha and Clint moved to either side of the entrance. 

“You set?” Tony muttered, and Steve heard Bruce start a five count over the headphones. 

“C’mon then, Tin Man,” he muttered to Tony. “Let’s get ready to face the crowds.”

“It can’t be any worse than facing the paparazzi,” Tony said in a low voice, standing shoulder to shoulder with Steve in front of the door. “And it’s Kevlar, you dick, not tin.” Tony raised an eyebrow at Steve’s repressed snigger. “Oh, now you discover your sass? Great.” He elbowed Steve softly in the ribs. “Try not to die in there – I want a chance to get my own back.” 

“I’ll do my best,” Steve said, sinking into a fighting stance and raising his shield. “And if it all goes wrong, you can put all the comebacks you were too slow to make onto my gravestone.”

“Sass,” Tony sighed, raising his weapons. “If only I’d realised it was sass earlier.” 

“If you two are quite finished,” Bruce’s voice was a low crackle over the headphones, “I’ll be knocking the power to the enclosures out in five, four, three, two…”

Tony’s foot hit the door at the exact moment that Steve’s did, and the combined force slammed the door open. 

Steve moved forward in a seamless flow, using his shoulder to stop the door closing on the rebound. Tony pushed past him, and they moved together into the enclosure using their combined observation skills to scan the area. 

The area had been landscaped with tall plants – presumably to put the animals at their ease – but the overall effect was terrifying. Behind them, Steve could hear a soft rustling, and had barely a second to hope that it was Clint and Natasha, before the air was split by a hoarse screaming cry. 

“On your two,” Tony called, and that was all the notice he had before a furious ball of teeth and claws struck his shield, forcing him back a step. Beside him Tony raised his hand and fired at a Raptor that was flanking them on the left, but even though the shot hit the animal in its chest, it didn’t slow it at all; soon Steve and Tony were fighting for their lives. 

The Raptors were every bit as cunning and vicious as Tony had warned, and they were preternaturally organised. As Steve spun around, delivering a stunning roundhouse kick to the head of a Raptor advancing on Tony’s back, he saw a tall, dark haired man that he recognised from the webcam as Loki. 

The man raised his hands to his mouth and uttered a shriek, indistinguishable from the noises the Raptors made. As if in response, two more animals leapt over Steve and Tony, viciously attacking Clint and Natasha. 

With the man, with _Loki_ encouraging them and guiding them, the animals seemed indefatigable. Steve envied them – he was tiring fast, the fight draining whatever reserves the march across the Park had left. 

But strangely, as the animals gained the upper hand, the ferocity of their attack lessoned. Instead they almost seemed to be corralling them towards the edge of the enclosure, until Steve and the others stood, huddled together, their backs against the wall, while the Raptors snapped at them if they moved. 

“What do we do now?” Clint muttered.

“You could kneel for me.” Loki’s voice was less strongly accented than Thor’s – but it also lacked any of its warmth. He clicked and a Raptor moved aside for him, so there was space in the semi-circle of horror. “Well? None of you are ready to acknowledge your betters?”

“Not likely,” Clint said. “You think you’re better because you’ve learnt how to use someone else’s invention?” He curled his lip. “I can use a computer, and I don’t think I’m better than Bill Gates.”

“Ah, Clint Barton.” Loki fixed him with a frigid glare. “And how _is_ your husband? Hmmm? How _safe_ is he, Clint Barton?” 

Clint glanced at Tony. “He’s safe,” he said, and even Steve could hear how he was trying to convince himself. “He’s safe and there’s nothing you can do to hurt him.” 

Loki hummed. “As you say. You may want to count the number of animals around you, though, before you rely on the reassurances you are so bold in making.”

Clint glanced round. There were five animals surrounding them, but Steve was sure there had been more than that when they first entered the enclosure. 

“No,” Natasha said, looking at Clint’s face. “Don’t let him get inside your head, Barton.”

“Tasha,” he said. “I’m sorry, but I need to check.”

He shrugged at Steve, and then made a dash around the Raptor at the edge of the pack. Loki watched him run, a wide smile on his face.

“And then there were three,” he said, and screeched. The Raptor next to him bobbed its head and ran off in pursuit of Clint. “I should thank you.” He turned to Tony. “The overrides for the core security were the one thing I hadn’t been able to access, and you turned them off for me.” He moved, and the Raptors imitated him exactly. “You’ve speeded this whole process up significantly.”

“You’re after the DNA,” Tony said. “But who for?”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Loki said. “I needed the technology you used as well. All previous attempts at cloning dinosaurs haven’t been able to create viable embryos.” He took a step closer, the Raptors again following him like nightmare marionettes. “Just think of what they’ll offer me, the world leaders, to have access to the army I control.”

Steve winced. He wanted to believe that Loki was wrong, but it would be so easy to weaponise the animals that Tony had created, and any government would rush to buy them, spurred on by the fear that their enemies would have bought them first.

“I thought you were an academic,” he said.

Loki sneered. “You are so closed minded,” he said. “Why must one preclude the other? Man cannot live on research alone, and money buys comfort and reputation. Besides, I will control the technology and dictate the research and the market place.”

“And of course you’ll have a back door into every armed force in the world,” Tony said gesturing at the Raptors.

“But of course.” Loki laughed. “Don’t tell me you wouldn’t do the same, Stark, if you were in my shoes.”

Tony curled his lip.

“You’re forgetting one thing,” Steve said.

“Oh, I don’t think so.” Loki smiled coldly. “I think you’ll find my plan has taken all the variables into account.”

Steve gripped his shield tighter. “You haven’t taken account of us,” he said.

Loki laughed. Sounding genuinely amused for the first time. “The Raptors will take care of you,” he said, “and if not… well, there are other animals on the island who will. You’ll just be an unfortunate statistic by the end of this.” He nodded at Tony. “I’ll pass my condolences to your lovely CEO of course. I am sure she will want to hear about how bravely you fought, and how pleased you would be that at least one person you tried to save made it off the island.”

“Leave Pepper alone,” Tony said, and Steve reached out to grasp his shoulder. The Raptors moved uneasily and Loki narrowed his eyes at Tony.

“I will do what I want,” he said, ice dripping from every word. “And there is nothing you can do to stop me, Stark. Maybe if you had embraced your potential we could have found an agreement, but you are nothing. Less than nothing. A spoilt, rich man-child, squandering his life and his potential on a rock in the middle of the ocean, designing a circus for other spoilt children.” He took a deep breath, reined himself in. “I’ve already wasted too much time on you.” He screeched, sharp and biting, and turned on his heel.

He didn’t look back as the Raptors lowered their heads and started to advance.

“So,” Natasha muttered. “Any ideas?”

“There’s only four of them,” Steve replied. “If we go all out, I think we can take them.”

“Yeah.” Tony was sceptical. “And then all we have to do is avoid the ones that have flown the coop.” He kept his attention fixed on the Raptor on his left. He’d watched how they hunted, and this slow advance often preceded a swift attack. He steadied himself. He had not come this far, burnt so many bridges, to end up as Raptor food. 

Next to him Natasha settled into a fighting stance, and beyond her Steve squared his jaw. 

“On my count,” he said, and as the Raptor in front of him tensed to pounce, Steve launched himself forward and jammed his shield into the animal’s opening mouth. The force of the attack knocked it backwards, and Steve fell heavily on it, twisting to avoid its tearing claws and ramming its head backwards over and over into the hard earth. 

For a moment Tony and Natasha stood in stunned silence, but then the other Raptor screamed out a warning call, and moved forward like a giant, evil chicken, pecking at a worm. It was aiming at Natasha, and Tony raised his hand and fired without conscious thought. 

He wasn’t using guns. All the animals had thick hides, and he’d learnt the hard way that bullets were a gamble. Yeah, they might penetrate the dinosaur’s skin – but they might just as easily rebound. Tony could remember the mess that had occurred when the first Rex had made a bid for freedom. They’d lost two keepers in its initial attack, and one of the younger keepers had bled out after a bullet had ricocheted off the Rex and hit him in the neck. It wasn’t something he wanted to see repeated, but they needed some way to take the dinosaurs down – or to encourage them to back off at the very least. 

It wasn’t difficult in the end. Their skin might be thick, but it didn’t protect them from electricity, and Tony was able to arm the keepers and vets with a series of weapons that were essentially the bastard children of cattle prods and Tasers. 

Of course, Tony might have kept the pick of the collection for himself and his Power Gauntlets (trademark pending) seemed effective enough. The first blast knocked the Raptor to its side and the second stunned it enough that he was able to turn his back on it to help Steve. 

Steve was stood over his Raptor, panting. He’d managed to stun it as well, and God only knew what his shield was made of because the animal’s teeth hadn’t even scratched it. 

“One-all draw for old and new technology then,” Steve said, grinning. “You’ve got another two Raptors to beat me, Stark.”

“Like hell,” Tony said. “You are not turning this into a competition, Rogers.”

“Oh.” Steve grinned slyly. “Scared of losing, eh?”

“Boys,” Natasha said. “Much as I would love to stand here and listen to your flirting all day, we have no idea where Loki’s gone, or how Bruce and Thor are getting on. Besides,” she straightened her weapons, “I need to find Clint.”

Steve’s face softened. “Of course,” he said. “You’re worried, we should…”

“Worried?” Natasha sounded incredulous. “I’m not worried. No.” She finished arranging her weapons and looked at Tony and Steve. “I need to find him so I can beat the ever living crap out of him.”

She strode off and Steve shot Tony a look of barely contained horror. Tony shrugged. 

“You heard what the lady said. Let’s go.”

Steve had no idea where Natasha had trained, but she moved so swiftly and silently that neither he nor Tony could keep up with her.

It wasn’t far between the enclosure and the centre, but the distance seemed to have increased horribly since they had walked across it to the closed Raptor enclosure. Now, with Loki and the Raptors loose, the walk back to the building seemed to take forever, and Steve felt his skin crawl with the gaze of unseen, malicious eyes the entire way. 

“You think we’re being stalked?” Tony asked. 

“Yeah.” Steve nodded. He’d learnt not to discount his instincts, and everything in him was screaming that they were being hunted. “We didn’t actually kill those Raptors, and there were another two as well, not to mention the ones that escaped before we were pinned.”

“We need to contain them,” Tony said. “The walk-in freezers in the kitchens would work.” He shrugged. “I didn’t think of building cells when I started the visitors’ centre. I can’t think why.”

Steve frowned. “You don’t want to kill them?” he said. “Stark, are you trying to salvage the Park.”

Tony stopped and stared at Steve, his face twisted in an odd expression. “Yeah, sure,” he said. “That’s exactly what I’m doing.” He curled his lip. “No, you dick. I want to get them penned in. We can dispose of them later, but killing these things is harder than you’d think and we can only carry so much ammo with us.”

“Oh,” Steve said, taken aback. “Yeah. That’s a good point. Shall we?”

“Act as bait for Velociraptors?” Tony said. “Die a terrible death while fighting against outstandingly fucked odds?” He shrugged. “Yeah. Let’s.”

They moved forward, shoulder to shoulder and watching each other’s back, but despite some rustling in the bushes they saw nothing all the way back to headquarters and Steve laughed, breathless, as Tony slumped against the door as soon as they got inside. 

“Seriously,” Tony said. “Shut it.”

“I…” Steve doubled over with giggles and hiccoughed. “Can’t. Sorry.”

Tony went to punch him in the shoulder, but instead of being jostled, Steve was knocked forward, flat on his face, as a Velociraptor forced the door open from behind him. 

It looked at Steve, sprawled on the floor, limbs akimbo, and at Tony who had been pushed towards the reception counter. It threw its head back and called – a harsh unforgiving noise that reverberated off the marble of the floor and walls. 

“Kitchen,” Tony panted, and Steve scrambled to follow him. The Raptor darted forward, trying to catch him while he was down, but the slippery stone floors were easier for him to navigate in his boots than for the Raptor, and it skidded away from Steve, driven by its own momentum. 

It felt like a nightmare though, trying to get his legs to work while he heard the scrabble of the Raptor’s claws behind him. Tony had reached the kitchen – or a door that Steve presumed led to the kitchen judging from what he could see – and was holding the door open with his body, his arm outstretched to help Steve. 

It wasn’t something that he’d been expecting, and it gave Steve the focus to force himself onwards until he reached Tony, felt his hand on his shoulder, heard the door swing shut as Tony followed him into the kitchen. 

They only had a few seconds before the Raptor followed them, but Steve grabbed the shoulder of Tony’s tee where it protruded from the Kevlar vest and dragged him, bodily, across the kitchen, throwing them both to the floor once there were two counters between them and the door. 

“Really?” Tony raised an eyebrow at Steve, although he was already in a commando crawl along the gangway. “This is how you proposition me?”

“Yeah.” Steve huffed his breath out between his teeth. “It’s all moonlight and roses with me, Stark.” He shouldn’t have been playing along, he knew that, but somehow, Tony’s ass and the way his combat pants pulled tight over it as he crawled were distracting. 

Not as much as the smile that Tony flashed him over his shoulder though. “I can tell,” he said. “I’m having to stop myself from swooning here.”

“Sure.” Steve said, trying to repress his laughter. “I can tell.” 

Tony twisted again, a comment on his lips, but they heard the door open and the click of claws on the tiled floor. 

They froze. All Steve’s instincts were screaming at him to hide, but even if he and Tony could fit themselves into the stainless steel storage units, it would just prolong the inevitable. 

It would be better, he thought, to force the issue now rather than to hide like children in some second rate horror film. 

He raised himself off the floor into a crouch, and nodded at Tony before launching himself forward towards the walk in freezers. 

The Raptor responded immediately, barking shrilly as it launched itself onto the metal work surface. Steve didn’t pause – any hesitation here could be fatal – just ran full tilt across the kitchen. Still, he could hear the Raptor gaining on him, a scraping, banging cacophony of movement as it jumped from one island to the next. 

He didn’t know how long he had when he reached the door and expected to feel the animal’s teeth or claws at any second as he fumbled at the bolts with suddenly clumsy fingers and pulled the door open with all his force. 

There was a dull, ringing sound, and it took Steve a couple of seconds to realise that the door had hit the Raptor in the head just as the animal had flung itself at Steve. 

Steve flung himself backwards, away from the Raptor, and realised only as he fell to the floor that he was in the freezer. In front of him the Raptor shook its head, as if clearing its thoughts, and barked once more before jumping up in an attack that obviously aimed to eviscerate Steve. 

Steve rolled desperately to the side, and the animal staggered as the frozen floor sent it skidding back into the shelves of frozen goods. 

“Move,” Tony screamed from the door of the freezer, already starting to push it closed, and Steve half crawled, half rolled through the gap, an ungainly sprawl of limbs that Tony kicked out of his way as he slammed the door shut. 

Or tried to, at least.

“Shit.” Tony was struggling, his whole body braced against the door, but the Raptor had managed to wedge one of its arms through before the door had closed and was now butting its head at the gap, trying to force its snout through – either to open the door or to bite Tony, it wasn’t clear. 

Steve clambered to his feet and threw himself at the door with as much force as he could manage. It helped – the Raptor withdrew its snout and the door closed another few scant inches – and Tony, seemingly mindless of his own safety, grabbed its arm and forced it backwards until they could finally, _finally_ close the door. 

“Yes!” Steve slammed the bolts home, and pulled Tony into an elated hug. “We fucking did it!”

“Steady on there, soldier.” There was strain in Tony’s voice, and when Steve pulled back he saw the lines on Tony’s face. “We didn’t get out of this scrape free, and we’re not out of the woods yet.” Seeing Steve’s confusion, Tony held up his arm. “Damn creature caught me with its claw.”

The wound looked nasty – Steve doubted it was deep, but it rang the length of Tony’s forearm, and it needed to be cleaned up. 

“Come on.” He grabbed a dishcloth and used it to bind Tony’s arm as best he could. “Let’s head to medical. I can wash this out for you, and we can get it bandaged up properly.”

“Huh.” Tony was so close that Steve could feel the huff of breath against his neck. “Does this mean you’ll play doctors and nurses for me, Rogers?”

“You never know your luck,” Steve said, without thinking as he checked that the makeshift bandage would last until they got there. “I’m told I look good in a nurse’s outfit anyway.” He looked up and laughed at the gobsmacked expression on Tony’s face. 

“Seriously?” Tony looked oddly hopeful, like a puppy that had realised it might get a cookie. “I mean, I need evidence of this…”

“Yeah, yeah.” Steve gestured at the door. “I get that you’re a man of science, Stark. Now, come on.”

“Alright,” Tony muttered, sounding gleeful. “Hey, can I…” His words are cut off as the door banged open and another Raptor skidded into the room and into a pan rack. 

“Quick,” Steve said. “Get out of the kitchen – we can’t risk opening the freezer again.”

“Agreed.” Tony vaulted over the nearest counter, and while the Raptor tried to free itself from a tangle of saucepans, they managed to get to the door and pull it closed behind them. 

“Is this the only door?” Steve panted as Tony fumbled with the door, presumably trying to jam the lock shut. 

“No, there’s an entrance into the dining room,” Tony glared at the door in frustration, “but it should be locked. What I wouldn’t give for JARVIS now.”

“You can do it,” Steve said, resting his hand on Tony’s shoulder. “You designed the place, after all.”

“Maybe.” The smile Tony gave him was brilliant, and Steve felt some of the fear and exhaustion that had been clouding his mind lift. “I could really do with a better set of tools though.” He glared back at the electrical locking pad. “Even a hammer would do.”

“Friend Tony!” 

Steve turned round and saw Thor striding across the entrance hall. “You are in need of a hammer?” He didn’t wait for a reply, just reached into the workman’s belt he had slung around his hips and grabbed a large masonry hammer. 

Steve stood back as he swung it – it smashed the lock box with a very final fizz, and even though they could still hear the Raptor shrieking in the kitchen, and see the door juddering in its frame as the creature tried to escape, it seemed to have done the trick. 

“Good work,” Tony said. “I mean, I’d be happier if it was in the freezer, but…”

“At least it’s not out here with us,” Steve finished for him and Tony nodded fervently. 

“Did you see my brother?” Thor asked. “I saw Clint run from the cage, and I feared some mischief had been done, but then he was pursued by a beast such as you confined there, and I did my best to subdue them and did not see you emerge.” 

“Your brother is planning to steal my technology, turn it into a weapon, and kill us all,” Tony said. “And we need to find him and stop him.”

“He’ll be in the labs,” Steve said. “He was talking about the embryos, remember? They’ll be the last thing he collects before he makes sure we’re all dead and calls in help.” 

“Good thinking,” Tony said. “You with us, Blondie?”

“Aye.” Thor nodded. “I hope I can make him see reason about this.” 

Steve shrugged at Tony behind Thor’s back. He didn’t think that was very likely himself – and from the sceptical look on Tony’s face, he didn’t either – but it was worth a go. 

“What about your arm?” he asked Tony. “Should we look at that first?”

“Oh.” Tony looked down at his arm like he’d forgotten it had been injured. “I’ll live.” He shot Steve an indecipherable look. “Let’s get Loki sorted first.”

It wasn’t that Tony had forgotten about his injury (although he was forced to admit, in the privacy of his own head, that he kinda _had_ ) but he was used to putting up with this sort of minor inconvenience and forging on – driven by whatever he was working on or whoever he was with until he could finally collapse in private and take stock of his wounds.

This was the first time that anyone Tony had been with had put his welfare over how he could benefit them (except Pepper, of course, and she was his ex so it was part of her job description) and Tony? Well. Tony was not sure _at all_ how he was supposed to react. 

Probably not by shooting Steve distrusting looks he realised, just a little too late. Because now Steve was staring at him like he’d grown a second head, and that was _entirely_ not what Tony wanted. In fact, he’d go so far as to say it was the exact opposite of what he wanted. 

Well. That wasn’t true either. The _exact opposite_ of what Tony wanted right now was to be caught up in feelings like a hormonal teenager instead of BAMFing his way to triumph over the two-bit villain who seemed to think he could waltz in and pervert Tony’s work. Yeah, he thought. _That_ would be a much better summary. 

“Hang on,” Steve said to Thor. “I need to sort something out.” He propped his shield against the wall and turned to Tony. “Did you knock your head during that last fight?” he asked, his voice soft. “Tony, I need you to focus here.”

“I’m fine,” Tony said, a smidgen sharper than he’d intended. “Just thinking about what we need to do next.”

“Yeah,” Steve said, a look of disbelief in his eyes. “Right. So you won’t mind if I check your head for bumps then, will you?”

He seemed to be daring Tony to disagree, and Tony was far too stubborn to give him the pleasure so he struck the most louche pose he could. “Go ahead,” he said, gesturing vaguely at his head. “You wanna fondle me so badly, Rogers, feel free.”

Steve huffed a laugh and started running his fingers through Tony’s hair with exquisite care. “Trust me,” he said in a voice too low for Thor to hear. “This is not fondling.” He ran his fingers down the back of Tony’s head, skimming them over his neck. “You’ll know when it’s fondling.”

“Is that a promise?” Tony asked. “Cuz if it is…”

“Yeah.” Steve grinned over at Thor. “He seems fine now. Back to his usual obnoxious self, anyway.”

“Hey.” Tony punched him in the shoulder. “Less of that. I’ll have you know I'm a bona fide genius.” 

Steve shrugged. “Not denying that,” he said. “Doesn’t stop you being obnoxious, though.”

The words didn’t have the sting of a real insult though, and Tony felt like they warmed him as they made their way to the labs. The first was clear, but in the second lab, the one where the embryos were made viable, a laptop was whirring quietly on one of the workbenches, and the cold storage unit was open. 

“Ah,” Loki said as he emerged from it, the dim lights giving a blue cast to his skin, “you escaped the Raptors then. Interesting.” His lip curled as he noticed Thor. “And you brought the Newfoundland puppy that pretends it’s my brother as well. How terribly kind of you.” 

His hands were full of test tubes – each one, as Tony knew, containing an embryo – and he seemed utterly unbothered as he slotted them carefully into a carrying case that seemed to have been specially designed. Then he turned and calmly typed some notes onto the laptop.

“You’ve no idea,” he said conversationally, “just how irritating your security procedures are, Stark.”

“Well,” Tony said, caught off-guard. “I do try my best, you know, just in case any maniac decides to use my bio-tech as a weapon.”

“And look just how _effective_ your paranoia has been,” Loki replied. “I will allow that it has been an inconvenience to come all the way out here and I am having to use a flash drive like some sort of stone-age barbarian, but there are benefits.” He stared at Thor. “You have no idea, brother mine, how satisfying it will be to finally rid myself of you.”

“I don’t understand,” Thor said. “What do you mean ‘get rid’ of me, brother?”

“Why,” Loki said, his smile as cold as ice, “merely that you will die in the terrible series of accidents caused by Stark’s shoddy research and standards.” His smiled widened. “Should I play it right, I may even get to be a comforting prop to our ‘father’ when he hears the news.” 

Thor sighed. “I have told you many times, brother, that our father does not draw distinctions between us based on your birth parentage.” 

“You think not?” Loki closed the case with a snap. “Well, I suppose that it is easy to ignore favouritism when you are the favoured son.” 

“Yeah,” Tony said. “I’m loath to split up such a warming Hallmark moment, but, Loki, really, you should quit this. Give up now and I’ll do what I can to sort things out for you.”

The disdain on Loki’s face became more pronounced. “Really?” he spat. “You will? Well, in that case please accept my unconditional surrender. Or,” he slammed his laptop closed, “how about I just finish what I started earlier, and put you out of my misery?” 

“Brother,” Thor said, reaching out his hand. “Consider what Anthony is offering. We have already trapped two of your minions, and your success is not assured.”

Loki threw his head back and laughed. “Brother,” he said, when he could gain his breath. “Why on Earth would I care for that?” His smile turned sly. “After all, it is not I who controls the biggest threat in this building.”

As if summoned by the words, the door on the far side of the lab opened, and Bruce backed into the room, herded by a Velociraptor. 

“B. Rex,” Tony said. “You having fun yet?”

“Of course.” Bruce sounded calm, but then he had developed the skill of managing that months ago. 

“That’s good,” Tony said, feeling the faintest glimmer of a plan growing. _Loki_ might see the Rex as a weapon he could use – but Tony had more faith in Bruce than that. “You got a plan?”

“Yes.” Bruce breathed out in a controlled movement. “You can contain the threat?”

“Yeah.” Tony grinned in what he hoped was a reassuring way. “Though I keep saying, you underestimate him, you know.” 

“No.” Bruce laughed, though there was no mirth in the sound. “Trust me, Tony. I _never_ do that.”

No matter how many times Tony had seen this before – and he had, many many times – it never failed to be a shock. The moment of hesitation, of unspeakable, awful _growth_ that bridged the gap between Bruce and the Rex. Tony believed in Bruce, in both his shapes, but still, there was something obscene about the moment of transformation. 

He didn’t look away though. He owed Bruce that much. Next to him, Steve looked slightly horrified, but Loki... Loki was watching with a vicious glee. 

“You think you can control him?” he asked. “That he will make things _safer_ for you?”

Tony glowered. “I trust him more than I trust you, you weaselly little fuck,” he said. “And your little dogs too.”

Loki looked at him in confusion, even as Steve laughed, but then the final shreds of Bruce's clothes gave up their valiant struggle, and the giant bull Rex, stooped and constrained by the ceiling of the lab bellowed. The Raptor barked, an alarm call Tony would bet, and the Rex swung toward it, noticing it for the first time. 

It lowered its head and bellowed again, drowning out the Raptor’s rough, coughing bark, and then it lunged forward and grabbed the Raptor by the throat. The Raptor closed in, desperately kicking and clawing at Bruce’s head, but the Rex shook its head and Tony winced as he heard the snap as the Raptor’s neck broke. 

The Rex shook the Raptor free, letting it fly from his mouth to hit the wall with a final sounding thud; it roared again and spun around. Steve hit the floor, dragging Tony with him, to avoid the lash of the Rex’s tail, but Thor charged forward, putting himself between the Rex and his brother. 

“Enough!” he shouted, his voice a barely controlled roar. “We are not your enemies, Banner! Try to think!”

The Rex cocked its head to the side, seemingly unsure, and Thor took a step forward.

“You see, shield brother,” he said. “You can overcome this handicap and…”

The Rex lowered its head and, using the broad expanse of its snout, flicked Thor across the room. It rumbled low in its chest as Thor crashed into shelves of glassware, sounding almost amused, and Tony sniggered. 

“Oh, come on,” he said, catching the expression on Steve’s face. “You can’t say that you’re not cheering internally? Just a little?” He stood up. “Hey, tall, green, and gorgeous!” The Rex swung towards him, lowering its head until it was nose to nose with him. “Yeah, yeah.” Tony raised his hand to the Rex’s face. “I missed you too, kitten, but we gotta get this job finished.”

The Rex made a low growl, and Tony laughed even as his hair ruffled with the animal’s fetid breath. 

“We can play later,” he said. “I promise. We’ll take the flying suit out again and play catch.”

The Rex made a grumbling roar and as Tony watched, it shrank in on itself, until it was just Bruce standing face to face with him again. 

“Oh, for God’s sake, Tony,” Bruce said. “Haven’t we talked about this before?”

“Yeah,” Tony said. “And as I said to _you_ before, he won’t hurt me.”

“You don’t know that,” Bruce said. “And do you honestly think I could live with myself if you did get hurt?”

“I can take care of myself.” Tony crossed his arms over his chest. “I’ve managed to catch Loki after all.”

“Yeah,” Steve said, helping Thor back onto his feet. “About that…”

“Fuck,” Tony said, looking round at the notably Loki-less lab. “He got away?”

Steve nodded. “While Bruce was transforming,” he said. “Dr. Banner, would this be any use?” 

He held out a lab coat to Bruce, who smiled and took it gratefully. 

“Thanks,” he said. “You’ve no idea how seldom people think of doing that.”

“Hey!” Tony shoved him in the shoulder. “Just cuz I ain’t gonna say no to a free show when there’s a chance, doesn’t mean I don’t care.”

“No need to explain.” Bruce shook his head. “I’m used to you now, Tony.” 

Tony shrugged. “I don’t want to keep you from showering me with adoration, but we should probably track down Loki.”

“I can do one better than that.” Bruce finished doing up the lab coat and started rolling up the sleeves. “I can get the systems back online in the next fifteen minutes.” He looked up at Tony. “ _All_ the systems.”

“Including JARVIS?” Tony asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet when Bruce nodded. “Brucey-kins. I could kiss you right now.” 

“Yeah.” Bruce looked slightly alarmed. “Later maybe. I need to get this finished.”

“Be my guest.” Tony turned to the others as Bruce ambled out of the room. “Where should we start looking for Loki?”

“Well,” Steve said, levelling a steady gaze at Tony. “Wherever he is, he can’t get off the island at the moment, and we will be in a much better position to find him when JARVIS is back online, agreed?” Tony nodded, slightly impressed despite himself with the firm look on Steve’s face. “In that case, I think we should head to medical and get you patched up.”

“Aye,” Thor said. “And we shall see if our shield brethren have escaped the talons of the monsters.”

“Yeah.” Tony assessed the options. “If Barton’s anywhere in the building he’s likely to have gone to Phil after what Loki said to him.”

“And,” Steve continued, “if Natasha is in the building she’s likely to have gone after Clint.”

“Okay,” Tony said. “You’ve convinced me that medical is a good plan then.” He stared at Steve. “To find the others.”

Steve just grinned, and Tony had the lowering thought that he would get his arm treated whether he wanted it or not. 

At least, he thought as they headed up to medical, there was light at the end of the tunnel. Loki hadn’t been able to send the information off the island yet – his quip about the email proved that – so if Tony could catch him, get the embryos back, and destroy the flash drive then the threat would have been contained. And next time, Tony promised himself, he would have better security, better surveillance, and definitely better recruitment checks.

Steve knew damn well that Tony was only humouring him – he just didn’t care. If Tony thought he could wriggle out of medical treatment, well, Tony was about to have another think coming.

He wasn’t sure how Tony could be surrounded by so many people who professed to care for him, yet he was obviously unused to people making his welfare a priority. It just didn’t add up to Steve – all the units he had fought in, back in the days when he could, would have fought tooth and nail to make sure an injured comrade was treated. And, yeah, that was kinda self-interest, because the life you save today might be the person who saves you tomorrow… but still. 

It was hardly a usual situation though. Steve was very aware that even with one Velociraptor definitely dead, and two contained, there were still Raptors unaccounted for. 

“Penny for your thoughts.” Tony’s voice startled him, and he looked up feeling suddenly sheepish. 

“I was just thinking about the Raptors,” he said. “And the one in the kitchen. Didn’t you say there was another entrance to the kitchen?”

“The dining room,” Tony said, nodding. “I think it’s locked, but honestly, I won’t be happy till those things are dead.”

“Verily, I agree.” Thor sounded glum. “I mislike all to do with them.”

“Well,” Steve said, pushing open the door to the medical wing, “at least we have a chance to regroup before we face them again.”

“You had to say that.” Tony sounded very weary. “We were getting on just fine, and then you had to say that.”

His eyes were fixed over Steve’s shoulder, and Steve knew with a sinking feeling exactly what he was going to see even before he heard the first barking cough. 

“You made it,” Loki sounded delighted. “How very fitting. Now I can rid myself of all my problems together.”

He was flanked by two of the Raptors, one facing forward, the other turned towards the beds. Steve raised a hand in greeting, and even though he was obviously in pain, Phil smiled at him. 

“You came to check up on me, Captain?” Phil said. “That’s very kind, abut as you can see, I seem to have acquired my own personal guard.” He gestured behind him where Natasha and Clint stood, weapons ready and as feral-eyed as Loki’s Raptors. 

“Been in the wars, Robin Hood?” Tony asked, gesturing at Clint’s black eye, and he nodded without taking his eyes off Loki. 

“Shouldn’t have let that one get into my head,” he said. “Fortunately, Tasha was round to knock some sense into me.”

“Which you wouldn’t have needed,” Phil said, in the voice of one who knows how this argument goes, “if you had the slightest faith in my ability to look after myself.”

“Yes sir, sorry sir.” Clint sounded anything but, but Phil only smiled at him. “It won’t happen again.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it,” Phil said, sounding fond. 

Loki looked at them, shaking his head in disbelief. “Do you pitiful excuses for humans understand nothing? There will be no ‘again’. I am going to kill you all now.”

“Yeah,” Tony drawled. “You’ve been saying that a lot, but,” he waved down at himself. “I don’t seem to be dead yet.” He turned to Steve. “How about you, Captain Marvellous? Feel any death-like symptoms?” 

“Not so much.” Steve readied his shield. “Though there’s a droning in my ears that won’t seem to quit.” 

“You should get that seen to,” Tony replied. “It’s a good thing we’re in the med bay really.” 

The lights flickered and they all glanced up. 

“I wonder what that was?” Steve said. “Tony, is this another power outage.”

“I don’t think so,” Tony said. “Damn, I wish I knew how Bruce is getting on.”

“Dr. Banner is finishing some final upgrades to the system.” A voice echoed from the ceiling. “I have taken the liberty of bringing the security systems back online and taking care of the animal that seems to have invaded the freezers.”

“JARVIS!” Tony sounded jubilant. “You have no idea how good it is to hear your dulcet tones again.”

“Likewise, sir,” JARVIS said, “though I must confess I do not appreciate what you’ve done to the Park in my absence.”

“What can I say,” Tony shrugged. “I always said you were the best parts of me.” He turned to Loki. “And now he’s back… well. I don’t think much of your chances of success, Glinda, even with your flying monkeys.”

“Enough.” Loki curled his lip in a sneer. “You think some glorified voicemail is a match for me?” He threw his head back and barked a cough. The Raptors immediately turned and with no warning, launched themselves at Tony. 

Steve flung himself forward, bringing his shield up in an arc that caught the first Raptor just under the jaw. From behind him, Tony set off a volley of shots with his gauntlets that drove the other Raptor back, straight into a flurry of arrows from Clint. 

One of the Raptors barked, and they both jumped back, moving with an eerie grace. 

“They’re surrounding us,” Steve said, his tongue clumsy with fear, and Loki laughed.

“This is how they hunt,” he said. “Isn’t it beautiful? And your attacks… well. My Raptors are barely even scratched. How long can you fight, I wonder, before they win?”

Steve felt his stomach sink. Loki was right. They would have struggled to beat the Raptors even if they were rested and uninjured… as it was, all they could hope would be to prolong the inevitable. 

“Good point,” Tony said, and Steve could hear the exhaustion in his words. “But you’re forgetting one small thing.”

Loki sneered. “I think not,” he said, and barked again. 

“You really are,” Tony said as the Raptors jumped onto the bed closest to him and Steve, ready to take whatever advantage they could find. “And it sucks to be you right now”

He pulled Steve down, onto the floor as the doors behind him erupted open and Bruce – or at least the giant, green, cold-bloody version of Bruce – thundered through. The Raptors leapt at him, shrieking, anchoring themselves in the thick skin of his back and flank, but the Rex didn’t seem to notice. He tore at them, dispatching them with brutal efficiency and tossing them aside before turning to Loki and roaring. 

“How does it feel to be on the other side of this?” Tony said, his voice vicious. “All I have to do is say the word and…”

“Tony, no.” Steve put his hand on Tony’s arm. “That isn’t the answer. Not for Bruce.”

“Damn.” Tony frowned. “Why must you always be right?”

Loki laughed coldly. “And this is why I will always win,” he said. “You lack the courage to do what needs to be done, and I…”

A shot rang out and Loki staggered, his shoulder blooming red.

“You lack conviction,” Phil said, lowering his gun. 

“Yes!” Clint seized Phil’s face and kissed him. “My husband, the most bad-ass son of a bitch in this room, lady and gentlemen.” 

Steve couldn’t help it. Even as Tony darted over to Loki and crowed in triumph as he grabbed the USB stick, even as Bruce blinked back to himself and pulled a scrap of Raptor skin from his teeth with an expression of disgust, even as Natasha watched fondly and Clint kissed Phil, Steve sank down onto the floor and let the giggles wash over him.

Tony sat on the roof of the centre and looked out over the Park.

There was still a lot to be sorted out. Even through the relief of getting the USB stick and the embryos back, Tony knew that he had a mammoth task ahead of him. 

Huh. Mammoths. He made a note for himself. The idea of non-lethal animals was growing ever more attractive. 

“What you planning?” Steve’s voice sounded weary, but he was smiling as he sat next to Tony, dangling his legs over the edge and handing him a coffee. 

“Mammoths,” Tony said, inhaling the blissful aroma. “Designer pets for the man who needs to go that little bit bigger.” 

“Yeah.” Steve took a sip out of his own cup. “At least they don’t have fangs or claws, I guess.” 

“I could make miniature ones,” Tony said. “Handbag sized ones.”

“With different coloured fur,” Steve agreed. “Hey. You reckon you could make me a stars and stripes one?”

“Don’t see why not.” Tony sipped his coffee and stared out at the horizon. From here it looked so peaceful. You’d never guess how many animals had escaped into each other’s enclosures, how much destruction they’d wrought. “Of course, I should probably sort out what to do with Loki first.”

“What did the medics say?”

Tony shrugged. “That he’ll make a good recovery. Phil knows his stuff. Shot to disable and not to kill. Got him through the shoulder. They said it was a clean wound.”

“It was certainly effective.” Steve looked at him. “Are you going to hand him over to the authorities?”

“Which ones?” Tony stared at his coffee like it would show him the future. “What jurisdiction is this island even under?” He sipped and pulled a face. The evening was growing cool and the coffee was tepid. “Besides, how do I get authorities involved formally without everyone becoming aware of the animals? And how they could be militarised?”

“Point,” Steve said. “But that was some seriously messed up stuff he did. You can’t just let him go free.”

“I know.” Tony finished his coffee and put his cup down next to him. “It’s a bit of a mess, isn’t it?”

“We can ask the others,” Steve said. “Clint was making noises about starting dinner when I came up here.”

They both paused. Considered.

“He’s not likely to need anything in the freezer for that?” Tony asked. “Is he?”

“Probably not.” Steve shrugged. “I’m sure JARVIS will mention the… um… infestation, if he does.”

“True,” Tony said. “He’s good like that.”

“What about the island?” Steve asked. “Do you still want to open it as a resort?”

“I don’t know,” Tony said, relieved that Steve had asked, that he had someone he could talk this through with. “It’s a mess at the moment, and it’ll take a lot of effort to fix. And money.” He stared morosely at the horizon again. “But if I don’t, how will I ever show the world that there is a beautiful side to bio-engineering? That it doesn’t have to revolve around destruction and death? Besides,” he shrugged at Steve. “Without the island, where would Bruce go? He fits in here – both sides of him. Out there? I’m not so sure.”

“They’d turn him into a weapon,” Steve said, his voice serious. “The army. They wouldn’t even think twice about it.”

“Yeah,” Tony said. “That’s the theory I’ve been working on. But how do I keep the island without this happening again?”

Steve scanned the Park, a thoughtful expression on his face. “Your mammoth idea,” he said. “You could go with that?”

“Mammoths?” Tony raised an eyebrow. “That was a joke.”

“But it would work,” Steve said. “Listen, you’re the only one working on recreating dinosaurs, yes? So, if I know you at all, you’ve managed to get hold of most of, if not all, the viable DNA.” He paused while Tony nodded. “So, if you destroyed the carnivores, or at least the big carnivores, and the material you used to produce them, then…”

“Then no one else would be able to recreate them either,” Tony said. “Steve, you’re a genius.” 

“Nah,” Steve shoved him with his shoulder. “But I very recently made friends with one. And it’s just an idea.”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Tony said. “It’s a great idea. Still a load of work, but a great idea.”

“Everything worthwhile is,” Steve said. “And you don’t strike me as a guy who shies away from a bit of work.”

Tony nodded and they sat there as the sun set, until they heard Thor bellowing that dinner was ready.

Dinner was awkward.

Exhaustion and the inevitable adrenaline crash had taken their toll and everyone ate in subdued silence. 

“So,” Tony said when the last wrap had been grabbed, and the last fajita rolled. “I know that you may have had enough of the Park over the last couple of days, but if anyone wants to stay on and help me get things here sorted out, well.” He swallowed, scrubbed his hand through his beard, and Steve could feel the nervousness emanating from him. “You’d be very welcome.”

“Well, I’m staying.” Bruce stifled a yawn, and grinned at the expression on Tony’s face. “It’s home, Tony. Of course I’m staying.”

“I’m heading back to the mainland with Phil,” Clint said. “Not that your doctors aren’t first class, Stark, but I’ll be happier when we’re back home and I can get him checked out properly.”

“Understood,” Tony said. “I’ll settle the bills, of course.”

“Damn right you will.” Natasha’s voice was deadly serious. “No, Clint. Let him. It’s his island that caused this, and I’m not going to see you going into debt because you think you should be self-sufficient.” 

Clint ducked his head and muttered something under his breath, and Steve could see Tony biting back his defence of the island. Under the table, he softly kicked Tony’s ankle and let his foot rest there, offering what comfort he could. Tony looked shocked for the barest second before he relaxed, quirking his lips at Steve.

“What about you, Thor?” he asked, and Thor frowned. 

“My destination,” he said, “depends upon your intentions towards my brother.”

“Whoa,” Tony said, holding his hands up. “Trust me on this, I have _no_ intentions towards your brother. At all.”

“He means if you’re going to involve the authorities,” Steve said, fighting to keep the smile from his face. 

“Ah,” Tony said. “In that case, I’m not sure.”

“What?” Clint sounded disbelieving. “What do you mean you’re not sure?” He rounded on Tony, jabbed him in the chest with a pointing finger. “He needs to be _punished_ for what he’s done.” 

“I agree,” Tony said. “He does. And if you have any idea how we can do that without letting the army grab hold of the animals and the biotech behind them… well.” He held his hands out. “Be my guest, Barton, cuz I’m all ears.”

“Personally,” Bruce said, “I’d prefer not to become a weapon.” He looked at Tony. “You’ll give me warning if it comes to that?”

“Of course.” Tony reached over and clapped him on the shoulder. “And a fake ID, enough money to get you established, and tickets to wherever you want to go.” He glared at Clint. “I’m hoping it doesn’t need to come to that though.”

“We could always kill him,” Natasha said, popping a last morsel of chicken into her mouth. “Punishment without inviting the outside world onto the island.”

“He is my brother,” Thor rumbled. “Do not talk of him in that manner.”

“So,” Tony said, sounding horribly tired. “We’re back to the question then: what can we do with him?”

“My father,” Thor said. “He will not be pleased to hear of what Loki has done, and he is a powerful man in our land.”

“And?” Tony prompted. “He can control Loki?”

“I believe so.” Thor looked grave. “I do not excuse my brother’s actions, nor do I condone them, but what he has done in terms of inter-species communication… it is impressive and could open up many areas of research.”

“And you father would be willing to control Loki’s behaviour in return for that?” Tony asked.

“Aye,” Thor said. “I believe he would be. And mayhap if he feels valued and finds his work respected then he will be disinclined to repeat his actions here.”

Clint huffed an unbelieving laugh, and Steve felt inclined to agree. The idea of Loki abandoning his quest for power was frankly unbelievable. 

But… there was no option, really. Not if they wanted to keep the dinosaurs off the battlefields of the world, and keep Bruce out of the hands of the army. Tony looked at Steve, a question in his eyes, and Steve nodded. 

“Fine,” Tony said. “If no one has any better suggestions – and killing him isn’t a better suggestion, Natasha – then we’ll release him into your custody once he’s recovered enough to travel.” He looked round the table, and though Clint looked mutinous, even he nodded his agreement. “Now, if you’ll all excuse me, there are things I need to be getting on with.” 

He rose from the table and strode from the room. Steve watched him go, weighing his options, before he too rose. 

“I’m gonna see if I can give him a hand,” he said. Bruce gave him a tired wave of benediction, but Clint didn’t seem to notice, more involved in a sub voce conversation with Natasha, and Thor was too busy with notes he was drawing up to pay attention. Only Natasha, distracted from her conversation, looked up at him with a knowing smile on her lips, and that sent Steve almost running from the room. 

He did jog along the corridor until he caught up with Tony. 

“Hey,” he said, catching Tony by the arm. 

“Steve,” Tony said, and Steve could see that he was fighting his hardest to put his masks back in place. “You’ll want a flight off the island, I guess. I’ll get right on it n…”

“No.” Steve took Tony by the shoulders. “No, Tony. I’d like to stay on the island.” He paused, doubt suddenly raising in his mind. “If that would be useful.” He swallowed. “If you’d want me to.”

“Yeah.” Tony’s voice sounded almost broken. “Yes, Steve. I’d like that very much.” 

His smile was tentative, but it gave Steve the courage to reach out and run his fingers over Tony’s cheek. 

“It’s selfish, you know,” he said. “Wanting to stay.”

“Likely,” Tony said. “I mean it’s not like you’re a decorated war hero, or the poster-boy for an entire way of life.”

“Like you were?” Steve asked, and saw the understanding dawn in Tony’s eyes. “It’s amazing how constrained you can be when the poster makers put words in your mouth.”

Tony nodded, and turned his head slightly, leaning slightly into Steve’s hand. 

“A new start, then,” he said. “For both of us, and the Park.”

“Yeah.” Steve pushed his hand up, feeling the scruff of Tony’s cheek against his palm, letting his fingers tangle in Tony’s hair. “A new start sounds good.”


End file.
